Why do people insist on not using the Metric system?

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Chummy
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07 Nov 2018, 3:03 pm

auntblabby wrote:
a lot of the amuuuurican animus against being forced to universally adopt the metric system can be traced to one man, Chicago Tribune Columnist Bob Greene, who in 1976 founded a grass-roots political organization called WAM, which stood for We Ain't Metric. his group had a LOT of sway with politicians nationwide, and was a significant roadblock to replacing our imperial measurement system.


I find it reallly hilarious!



Piobaire
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07 Nov 2018, 4:02 pm

Quote:
Why do people insist on not using the Metric system?


Because we live in a country where people have required "NOT FOR HIGHWAY USE" to be printed on the sidewalls of wheelbarrow tires, instructions on bottles of shampoo, and 2 out of 5 people think Spanky's MAGA.



jamthis12
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07 Nov 2018, 4:26 pm

And Metric really isn't all that hard to learn either. I know my city has a few signs up in Metric from the 70s too.


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Fnord
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07 Nov 2018, 5:01 pm

I asked a few acquaintances what they thought of the Metric System. None of them were scientists, technicians, engineers or mathematicians, so of course their responses were somewhat less than logical ones. I condensed their responses into this list of ...

Fnord's Top Ten Reasons for Opposing Metrication

[satire]

10. The Metric System is elitist, in that when a government imposes metric rule on its citizens, it is always the bureaucrats and politicians that learn how to use it first.

9. The Metric System gives unfair advantage to people who are skilled in math at the expense of those who are unskilled in math. For example, merchants who embrace the Metric System will more easily conceal the inflated prices of their goods from an unsuspecting public.

8. A move to the Metric System is a move to closed-mindedness. The rigidity of the Metric System stifles creativity and imposes a robot-like system of rote learning upon our children.

7. The Imperial system is based on dividing by powers of 2 -- 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, et cetera -- thus making it more compatible with the binary systems of most modern computers than the Metric System, which is divisible by powers of 10.

6. The European Union is using metrication as a means to impose its dominance over the economies of the world.

5. Metrication is an Anarchist plot, in that the process of converting to the Metric System will bring American industry to a halt, put Americans out of work, destroy the American economy, and bring an end to civilization as we know it.

4. The Metric System is a Communist plot, because the communists want one of everything - one world, one monetary system, one government, one educational system and now, one measurement system.

3. The Metric System is Socialist plot. By compromising our American standards of measurement, we only enable those immigrants who refuse to assimilate and who only wish to be leeches upon our American largess.

2. America is the greatest country in the world! Why should we conform to the rest of the world? THEY should conform to US!

And the Number One reason why converting to the Metric System is a bad idea:

1. The Metric System is blasphemy! People were endowed by their Creator with feet and pounds, not meters and grams! What the Creator has put together, let no one pull asunder.

[/satire]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:



jamthis12
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07 Nov 2018, 8:49 pm

Honestly I can't even remember the names of most of the numerous Imperial units, let alone what the conversions are.


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auntblabby
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08 Nov 2018, 1:48 am

Chummy wrote:
auntblabby wrote:
a lot of the amuuuurican animus against being forced to universally adopt the metric system can be traced to one man, Chicago Tribune Columnist Bob Greene, who in 1976 founded a grass-roots political organization called WAM, which stood for We Ain't Metric. his group had a LOT of sway with politicians nationwide, and was a significant roadblock to replacing our imperial measurement system.


I find it reallly hilarious!

so did I at the time :D