Dear Mike,
I can't remember the original source for this quotation that I
adapted to metrication but it may contain some relevant seeds of
truth for your situation.
Metrication*
passes through three stages.
First, the metric system is ridiculed.
Second, the metric system is violently opposed.
Third, the metric system is accepted as being self-evident.
—
* Metrication — the process you choose to upgrade to the metric system.
It would appear that you friend might be passing through stage 2.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has
helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the
modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they
now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for
their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many
different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial
and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA.
Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST,
and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See
http://www.metricationmatters.com/ for more metrication information,
contact Pat at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or subscribe to
the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter at http://
www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter/
On 2008/01/14, at 3:29 AM, Michael Palumbo wrote:
Has anyone else had something like this happen to them?
Last week, my coworker's wife had a child, and we did the "guess
the gender and weight" contest that we always do in our office.
I guessed an even 3000 grams, and was the closest; the baby was
2981 grams. I had to translate the numbers for a few people, but
no one really minded that I submitted my answer in metric.
Last night, I was recalling this story to my friend Megan while in
the car, and her reaction to it was *this* shy of violent. She
began screaming at me, telling me how much of a (insert various
four letters words here) I am for using a system that no one else
understands. Her basic points were, if I ascertained them
correctly in between her ranting:
- "No one" understands the metric system, therefore it's off-
putting for me to use it.
- It's "extremely rude" to speak in a manner that people don't
understand.
- It's "moronic" and stinks of me just trying to "be different and
weird for the sake of being different and weird".
I told her that I wasn't going to listen to her insult me, dropped
her at her house, and left.
I cannot, for the life of me, understand that type of reaction. My
office-mates, even when they don't directly understand it, have a
pretty good idea of what I'm talking about. Rather than try to
learn something new, Megan's reaction is what I fear may be typical
of many people in this country. Either you act like everyone else,
or you'll be branded a nut-case. Never mind that most of the world
uses this system, never mind that the foreigners in this country
use it, never mind that the doctor who delivered the baby used it,
*I* am not supposed to because it makes her think, and she can't
handle that.
Regards,
-Mike
