A response to yet another metric rant
At this blog post, which is yet another rant complain that the US has not "gone metric", I posted this reply:
Something I like to point out to people is that the US was the second country in the world to go metric, after France invented it.
All goods sold in the US are required to be marked in metric units.
All military, construction, and custom goods contracts sold to the US government are required to be designed and blueprinted in metric units.
The “customary system” is legally defined in terms of metric units. The US system isn’t a “bastard child of the Imperial system”. Quite the opposite: the Brits kept changing their units of measurement, while the US ones stayed fixed. Which one is the “bastard”?
What you are complaining about is that in the US we have not *forced* people and manufacturers to stop using customary units. What do you suggest? Make customary unit rulers and tools illegal to own? Fine weather reporters for saying temperature in Farenheight. Fine manufacturers and stores for stocking stuff in round units of oz and feet?
Such laws would have a hard time standing up when challenged in court.
This entry was originally posted at http://fallenpegasus.dreamwidth.org/825154.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Something I like to point out to people is that the US was the second country in the world to go metric, after France invented it.
All goods sold in the US are required to be marked in metric units.
All military, construction, and custom goods contracts sold to the US government are required to be designed and blueprinted in metric units.
The “customary system” is legally defined in terms of metric units. The US system isn’t a “bastard child of the Imperial system”. Quite the opposite: the Brits kept changing their units of measurement, while the US ones stayed fixed. Which one is the “bastard”?
What you are complaining about is that in the US we have not *forced* people and manufacturers to stop using customary units. What do you suggest? Make customary unit rulers and tools illegal to own? Fine weather reporters for saying temperature in Farenheight. Fine manufacturers and stores for stocking stuff in round units of oz and feet?
Such laws would have a hard time standing up when challenged in court.
This entry was originally posted at http://fallenpegasus.dreamwidth.org/825154.html. Please comment there using OpenID.