I have been looking at the metric system for a couple of
years now. My primary reason for exploring it has been my continual frustration
with the bizarre medley of traditional imperial units—bushels, hogheads,
hundredweights, etc., as well as the various types of ounces. I teach history
at the college level and struggle to be able to remember statistics because
they are usually attached to some unit that I can’t seem to recall off the top
of my head.
First, I have seen many people in threads (not here) state
that they like using the metric on the job, but at home and in their personal
lives, they prefer the traditional units. I think it is best for society to
pick one system and use it (almost) exclusively, instead of switching between
two separate systems—and I’m sure some NASA engineers would agree with me
there.
My main problem with the metric system is trying to use it
in my daily life (I live in the southern California region in the United
States). I don’t really have a problem
with kilometers or liters, but with the shorter units of length that I would be
using in my daily life. I guess its easier to visualize 6 feet than 180 or so
centimeters. I read Pat’s article on using the millimeter (perhaps he was
simply saying that businesses should use mm, with individuals using what they
prefer?), but it just seemed a bit too much to continually tell myself, “I’m
sitting 150 mm from the window,” or something like that, or that I’m 18,500 mm
tall.
Even cm seem to small, but decimeters seemed good—about the
width of my hand. But then I looked around and saw that pretty much nothing was
measured in terms of the decimeter (except pools in metric countries).
Any suggestions on ingraining the metric system in your
personal life? This isn’t the only question I have, but it’s the most
significant. Honestly, I think I’d rather speak in terms of “I’m a third of a
meter away from the window” than any other metric way of speaking—a meter is
pretty easy for me to visualize, as are simple fractions like that—but I keep
getting the idea that one isn’t supposed to use fractions in the metric system.
Or is this simply in a professional setting, where calculations need to be
used?
I’ll save my next question for a future thread, after we
solve this one. J
