...and I'd rather have miles than kilometres in my parsecs
For those of you who might not know it, I am and long have been so violently opposed to the use of metric measurement for everyday stuff, especially personal stuff (height, weight, dimensions) that I've got into vicious RL rows about it and even nuked a few friendships over the issue along the way. But given that I've always been comfortable with metric in the laboratory and for medical use and suchlike, and given that I have no problem with the conversions, one might wonder why my opposition is so passionate and muscular, and why it matters so much to me in the first place.
Personally, I never stopped to wonder. Until a few minutes ago, that is. I just put myself under the microscope (as it were) whilst reading an article ____ sent me about 'Euro-myths'.
As soon as I read the part where it said
The UK committed itself to gradually going metric in a white paper in 1972, a year before it joined the European Community. But once in, its obligation to make the switch was formalised... The UK is technically under an obligation to dump the mile, pint, acre and troy ounce, which are still in general use, at some point in the future. Although the European Commission says it has no desire to force the pace, and will never stop Britons downing pints of beer, the odd commissioner sometimes mutters that it is time for the UK to fall into line. British children already know nothing about pounds and stones, feet and inches, or degrees Fahrenheit, so for the next generation it may not be a big issue...
I instantly got wound up to the point of rabid anger and wailing anguish. Only this time I looked inwards, seeking an answer to the why of such a strong reaction. And the possible answer might well be this:
I started reading science fiction as a young child. And while I loved most of it, a very strong impression that I formed and took away from all that reading was that the future is sterile.
Yes. The future = sterile. As in cold, sanitised[1], harshly lit, and full of hard-angled soulless spaceships[2] taking people to, more often than not, cold soulless sterile bases on environmentally hostile planets. Remember, back in those days of my reading - the 1950s and early 1960s - metric measurements were only used in the lab, as well as in science fiction futurism (presumably to show how different everything will be).
So I think what may have happened is that I came to associate metric measurement with a future that would turn out to be soulless, harshly lit, very unnatural and all precisely measured, a future with no room for warmth and organic-ness and humanity's little quirks. And when one adds this to the generally accepted feeling, even amongst a very large number of the metric-proponents I know, that metric doesn't really suit things like personal measurements (height, weight, dimensions), I think my aversion is understandable. Whether you agree with my feelings or not :-)
[1] This was long before George Lucas brought us the 'used future'...
[2] ...and also long before Joss Whedon brought us the wonky held-together-with-bits-of-string spaceship with the funky old sitting-room lounge area :P
EDIT: in a discussion elsewhere (email) about this post, one person - a teacher back in England - pointed out that British children already know nothing about pounds and stones, feet and inches, or degrees Fahrenheit is rubbish, as all her kiddies do know and understand the pre-metric measurements. To which I've added:
'...people down here who were born well after 1970 not only know about pounds, stones, feet, inches, pints and miles, but also often use these terms naturally or by preference. The only big difference I've found is that most people here do think of ambient temperatures in Celsius. Which to my mind is fairly stupid, because again, Celsius doesn't give an accurate enough set of distinctions for the rather narrow range of temperatures that suit human comfort. Back in the Islands, what I usually found was that people would think in Celsius for 'pleasant' temperatures and Fahrenheit for very hot or very cold ones. Makes more sense to me, that does :-)...'
Personally, I never stopped to wonder. Until a few minutes ago, that is. I just put myself under the microscope (as it were) whilst reading an article ____ sent me about 'Euro-myths'.
As soon as I read the part where it said
The UK committed itself to gradually going metric in a white paper in 1972, a year before it joined the European Community. But once in, its obligation to make the switch was formalised... The UK is technically under an obligation to dump the mile, pint, acre and troy ounce, which are still in general use, at some point in the future. Although the European Commission says it has no desire to force the pace, and will never stop Britons downing pints of beer, the odd commissioner sometimes mutters that it is time for the UK to fall into line. British children already know nothing about pounds and stones, feet and inches, or degrees Fahrenheit, so for the next generation it may not be a big issue...
I instantly got wound up to the point of rabid anger and wailing anguish. Only this time I looked inwards, seeking an answer to the why of such a strong reaction. And the possible answer might well be this:
I started reading science fiction as a young child. And while I loved most of it, a very strong impression that I formed and took away from all that reading was that the future is sterile.
Yes. The future = sterile. As in cold, sanitised[1], harshly lit, and full of hard-angled soulless spaceships[2] taking people to, more often than not, cold soulless sterile bases on environmentally hostile planets. Remember, back in those days of my reading - the 1950s and early 1960s - metric measurements were only used in the lab, as well as in science fiction futurism (presumably to show how different everything will be).
So I think what may have happened is that I came to associate metric measurement with a future that would turn out to be soulless, harshly lit, very unnatural and all precisely measured, a future with no room for warmth and organic-ness and humanity's little quirks. And when one adds this to the generally accepted feeling, even amongst a very large number of the metric-proponents I know, that metric doesn't really suit things like personal measurements (height, weight, dimensions), I think my aversion is understandable. Whether you agree with my feelings or not :-)
[1] This was long before George Lucas brought us the 'used future'...
[2] ...and also long before Joss Whedon brought us the wonky held-together-with-bits-of-string spaceship with the funky old sitting-room lounge area :P
EDIT: in a discussion elsewhere (email) about this post, one person - a teacher back in England - pointed out that British children already know nothing about pounds and stones, feet and inches, or degrees Fahrenheit is rubbish, as all her kiddies do know and understand the pre-metric measurements. To which I've added:
'...people down here who were born well after 1970 not only know about pounds, stones, feet, inches, pints and miles, but also often use these terms naturally or by preference. The only big difference I've found is that most people here do think of ambient temperatures in Celsius. Which to my mind is fairly stupid, because again, Celsius doesn't give an accurate enough set of distinctions for the rather narrow range of temperatures that suit human comfort. Back in the Islands, what I usually found was that people would think in Celsius for 'pleasant' temperatures and Fahrenheit for very hot or very cold ones. Makes more sense to me, that does :-)...'