Reply #41: The government shouldn't tell people what measurement system [View All]

[Igel]

to use.

If some sections of the economy switch over, great. If others don't, whatever. I personally like 'foot', it's a handy unit that can express fairly common measurements in low numbers, and nobody uses decimeters. What's weird is to read a recipe that still uses *cups* (even though the metric system's used elsewhere).

If some units switch, and others don't, not a problem. Decimal time-keeping didn't work out all that well, now did it? No, we still use the Babylonian system.

The only good thing about the metric system is that you convert from large to small units by powers of 10, not arbitrary numbers. (And, believe it or not, I've known people that had problems converting from grams to decas or kilos.)

At least nobody's making the claim that somehow the metric system is "rooted in nature" or "science based" (which is what I used to hear back in the '70s).