Why can't the US adopt metric measurements??

Started by moodflow, August 24, 2007, 12:59:51 PM

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old_blaggard

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chefc

Quote from: Volker Harun on August 29, 2007, 10:54:12 AM
When I used to drink - and this is now more than 10 years ago - you were not allowed to leave without having 4 to 5 half litres of brewed stuff.
A simple 6 PK of Corona has always been sufficient, any more and I feel it the next day  ;D
Chef C  ;)

Serving the masses  8)

rcallicotte

A little wine is sufficient.  Or rum.  Or Italian liquor.  Or beer. 

So this is Disney World.  Can we live here?

moodflow

Quote from: Volker Harun on August 29, 2007, 10:54:12 AM
When I used to drink - and this is now more than 10 years ago - you were not allowed to leave without having 4 to 5 half litres of brewed stuff.

With that amount - I'd be dead!

What the?  Volker is from Germany?  I thought he was from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!!   ;D
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rcallicotte

So this is Disney World.  Can we live here?

FrankB

The thing with the Germans and their excessive consumption of alcohol (predominantly beer) - I think it's a clichée that we're drinking so much more than anybody else.

Yes, we do like to drink beer, but all of us still like to get back home upright.
I have plenty opportunities of hosting guest from the US, and we always take them out in the evening, to beer gardens most of the time. Except those that do not drink anyhting at all, we're having a roughly equal amount of drinks.

The only difference I believe is, that the germans have made going out for a beer or five a cultural habit. In Bavaria especially (south of germany), you don't even have to take a pal with you for conversation - it's totally fine to sit down with complete strangers, and the most interesting conversations can derive from that. I love that!

Cheers,
Frank

rcallicotte

FrankB, this is wonderful to know and makes sense.  I wonder sometimes if Americans like to be different and that is the only reason we make so much about so little.  On the other hand, there appears to be a moral misinterpretation leading us to extremism, in my opinion, and when this happens it tends to breed ill behavior.  For example, the Prohibition years or dependency upon crude oil. 

On the other hand, when Americans go for something really good, we go all the way.
So this is Disney World.  Can we live here?

efflux

We used to have imperial in the UK. It was before I remember but metric is way better. I would absolutely hate to have to work with imperial. However we use both. Road signs are in miles. The trouble comes when you have to calculate things then metric is much easier to work with.

moodflow

When I drive into Mexico (which uses the metric system), for distances, I'll take the distance shown on the sign, and then look at my speedometer.  Miles on top and KM on bottom, so super easy converter using that method.

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moodflow

Not to hijack my own thread, but other things I've pondered:

Why telephone keypads don't match calculator keypads. 

And why some countries drive on opposite sides of the road.  A good friend of mine who lives in London says that its really not as hard as you'd think to switch over.  But I think if I drove in England, I'd be afraid I'd forget, and cause an accident!
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Volker Harun

For knights in England, the threat came on the road, on the continent the threat was sitting in the bushes. The swordhand's side was to choose ... just an intuitive guess.

efflux

You just posted before me Volker, so I changed my message. Similar content.


One thing is certain, Napoleon forced right hand drive on the roads in every country that France conquered. He was left handed but I don't know if that had any bearing on it. Then some other countries changed over as well but some countries stuck to left hand drive.

cyphyr

Yea looks like they finally given up on trying to convert us  ;D

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6988521.stm

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Harvey Birdman

Just as well. It's all a commie plot. I mean come on. What is so logical about a system that requires you to multiply inches by 2.54? And so you end up with how many of these 'centipedes' or whatever per foot? What's the point in that?

  ;) ;D

efflux

Our system is good as is, using both. Convicting fruit and veg market stall holders for only using imperial is insanity and changing all our road signs is more insanity. However metric makes much more sense in other ways. Apart from anything else, if some people are making products, especially mechanically engineered things, in metric and others imperial then that's mad and not good for trade.