"Mechanics do indeed use metric tools; most of my home wrenches, though, seem to be sized for bolts, nuts and pipes measured in inches"
This smells of segregation - not on racial grounds, but on professional grounds. No doubt supermarkets continue to foist poor quality tools onto the home user, but the professional user knows that he wouldn't touch any non-metric tools with a bargepole. _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bill Hooper Sent: 12 July 2011 01:22 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:50861] Fwd: Cursive vs.metric I got this cordial reply from Mr. Bennett. I don't think he is anti-metric, just non-metric. Begin forwarded message: Dear Mr. Hooper, I appreciate your letter and your thoughts, sincerely. Metric dimensions are certainly present in our lives in many ways, just as you pointed out. Perhaps this is a quirk of Indiana, but I do find, though, that almost everyone I encounter in daily life here refers to sizes in inches, feet, yards and miles (except for high school track running distances, yet not heights or lengths); and volumes in gallons, quarts, pints and cups (except for wine bottles, and 2-liter pop containers). Mechanics do indeed use metric tools; most of my home wrenches, though, seem to be sized for bolts, nuts and pipes measured in inches. To push us over the hump toward full conversion, my guess is that the government will have to do a more widespread public-education campaign, similar to the one I remember from my childhood. That sort of all-out push, in reference to my column's wording, was the basis for my use of the term "mania." thanks for your interest and time, Mark Bennett Mark Bennett Columnist/Editorialist/Features writer CNHI Newspapers/Terre Haute (Ind.) Tribune-Star <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] (812) 231-4377
