[694.1]

My friend was a long way from home and in a foreign country.
He has learned to be on alert when working with a military contractor as you can never be sure where trouble may arise. But the money was awesome.
The job is normally all work & little play and he has learned to smell danger, I guess he has always been lucky that way.
And this is the story as he related it.
It was the end of a long week and time to relax when the foreigner with a thick accent approached .

Here it comes he thought...

“Ehllo Mate!” The friendly acquaintance declared. Just what is it with you American blokes and the Metric system anyowe?” Too difficult to count to ten? Noght precise enough for eh?
My friend was prepared like a Boy Scout!
“Listen buddy” he said. There are two kinds of countrys in this world.....
Those that use the Metric system.....And those that have put a Man on the Moon!!

That situation was pretty much defused.

[92GTA]

Haha, that's freakin awesome!

Although at some point we should go with the metric system, just sayin' lol

[RocktimusPryme]

I have long said I would be perfectly willing to go to the metric system if the rest of the world moved to English. Seems a fair trade to me, most Americans can already poorly use the metric system, most of the rest of the world can already poorly speak English.

Only place it would bother me is not using MPH. I wouldnt mind my weight being listed as a lower number.

For what its worth some american contractors (I am one) love to work with Euro country soldiers. Often they can drink on those bases. I dont drink anyway, but some of the guys at work talk about how the English, and a few other euro country military's allow drinking within reason on their bases.

[Heybuck]

As one who grew up knowing the Imperial system till 1966 (so I was 16), I had the pounds and tons, feet & inches buried deep within me.

In February 1966, here in Australia we moved to the metric system and it took some learning to become familiar with millimetres, centimetres, metres and so on. Money was surprisingly easy to become adept at. I have to say that the Imperial system of 12 penny's to the shilling and so on was stupid to the extreme after we quickly got used to 10 cents to the dollar.

Speeds of MPH to KPH were also quite easy to become famiiar with. You instantly knew that 35MPH was 60KPH, 60MPH was darn close to 100KPH and so on. Your inner physc just quickly knew that. 35MPH was to city speed limit in the day so when the speed signs were changed to 60KPH, you just knew by looking at your speedo and the needle was sitting about 35MPH, you were OK.

That's still the same today for my '66 Grand Prix. Its still in MPH and I just know that driving at 60MPH is the regular highway limit speed of 100KPH.

And I have to say that when you are building something, measuring 516mm is a bloody sight easier than looking at your tape measure to work out 20+7/16th of an inch for example.

But the thing is, being my age today, and it's the same with most people my age, we still use the old distances in talking. We might say "a mile down the road" or I'm 6 foot tall. or when roughly describing things, we might just say "a couple of inches". I guess those sayings will stay with us till we die.

Is there a "right" system or a "better" system?? Probably not. Its just what you grow up with. But I'd have to argue that the metric system of measurement is far better for accuracy than the feet & inches system.

Ian

[rohrt]

That's great

[694.1]

"Although at some point we should go with the metric system"

Yeh, I'll be DEAD then!

"I'm 6 foot tall"

Hey let's hope a 36D is always a 36D!

[Half-Inch Stud]

I'm clear thinking when using mils (.001")

from there, i get my 25.4 microns/mil

and 39.7 mils/mm

otherwise i'll reach for a tape measure.

[Half-Inch Stud]

Originally Posted by 694.1

"Although at some point we should go with the metric system"

Yeh, I'll be DEAD then!

"I'm 6 foot tall" Hey let's hope a 36D is always a 36D!

Wow, you'e almost 2kilometers tall.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by 92GTA

Haha, that's freakin awesome!

Although at some point we should go with the metric system, just sayin' lol

We are inching our way towards the metric system.

But we are still a mile away.

K

[69goatboy]

I'm an engineer for an American company that was bought out by a Danish company.
We've been slowly going metric.
The more I work with it, the more I like it. At least when it comes to mm vs inches.
Things like bearings and whatnot have been primarily metric for years anyway, so it's no big deal.

[george kujanski]

I would like to get a tape measure in decimal inches and feet. I hate doing fractional math during construction projects.

As far as the metric system, no big deal for me.

George

[Willshire]

Everythings in tens! no 1/8, 1/16, 1/32s Although my tape measure is in inches and feet and my car, and my new truck are measured in mph and mpg not kph and L/100km

[Jack Peters]

HIS. Uhhhhh, that should be meters not kilometers as it takes 1000 meters to make a kilometer. Ahh, such ir is when we try to convert.

Interesting enough is that NASCAR has used the metric system since the '60's.
Max engine size back then was 7 liters which works our to 428 ci. Today it is 5.8 liters which is 366 ci.

Ford had 7 Litre on their mid 60's Galaxy and Pontiac stated 6.5 Liters from '64 on for several years on the GTO.

I use it in my line of work all the time.

[lust4speed]

And I would like to thank GM for very, very slowly introducing us to the metric system. At least I would guess that's why so many mid-80's GM cars were partially metric bolts and partially SAE? Nothing like having both sets of tools out back then to work on something.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Jack Peters

... and Pontiac stated 6.5 Liters from '64 on for several years on the GTO.

...although...it's not correct.

6.5L does not equal 389 cu in.

K

[Stuart]

I'll never figure out the resistance to metric measurements. I learned about the metric system in grade school (sometime in the early 1960s) and it's not that difficult to work in either metric or imperial as the situation requires.

[Heybuck]

I've already commented on this thread but to add a bit more, there are LOTS of points about the metric system which make things easier (and faster) to work out in your head.

Airlines all have their luggage allowances set in kilos. i.e, 20 kilos, 30 kilos etc.

If you realise that a litre of water weighs 1 kilo and your fuel tank holds 65 litres, you know that (close enough), you have just added 65 kilos of weight to your car assuming you fill it from empty. Or in the case of my '66 Grand Prix, I know the tank holds 125 litres of fuel so from empty to full, that's another 125 kilos the car has to pull.

When you are thinking about fuel consumption, its somehow easier to think that your car has travelled 100 kilometres and its used 11 litres of fuel to do so. So you quickly know that in 500 kilometres, you are going to use 55 litres of fuel. Whereas if I had to think, "I've gone 60 miles and I know the car uses 2½ gallons of fuel" etc...... It's just harder to have to nut it out accurately.

And thinking about my Grand Prix, I recall that when I pulled off the rag joint on the steering column, I found that the workshop manual mentions the locking bolt is metric. And I think that is the only metric bolt on the car. Might be wrong about that.

[694.1]

Actually, this thread was about the merits of America, not the metric system.
Public schools....

[mechanickeith]

There is a section of US interstate that's actually marked in KM.

[rexs73gto]

We that are true Americans know that the system we grew up with inches feet , miles are what we have & what also makes us what we are, DIFFERENT from the ones we were oppressed by in the 1700's . We fought for our own way of life & for some stupid reason we find some that want to be just like everyone else. We as true Americans want to be different from the country that we left for a better way of life. I am one that say let the metric system stay over seas & we will keep our system which works just fine & keeps us proud & above the rest. I went to school in the 60's & very early 70's & never had ANYONE try to teach me the metric system , & hated it in the mid 70's when the car companies started to switch over , well at least 50/50 in the cars. It cost me an extra $ 5000.00 + dollars to up grade my tools which there was no need to except they were caving to pressure to make the cars more world friendly. As far as I'm concerned you can keep the metric system overseas & leave our system alone.