In praise of the metric system

[Brown]

From Randi's commentary
I wonder what Jefferson would have thought of the fact that in the 21st century, his country would still be fumbling with the awkward and ancient feet/pounds/Fahrenheit units that the rest of the world gave up long ago....?

There is nothing inherently wrong with using feet and pounds as units of length and force. But in comparison to the English system, the metric system makes computation of quantities so much easier.

The unit of force in the metric system comparable to pounds in the English system is the newton (NOT the kilogram). One newton is the amount of force you need to accelerate one kilogram at one meter per second every second. (In the metric system, the kilogram is a unit of mass. The English unit of mass is, believe it or not, the slug.)

The unit of energy (or work) in the metric system is the joule. In the USA, almost nobody knows what a joule is, but everyone seems to be happy talking about calories. And yet one joule is easily computed as one newton times one meter. By contrast, one calorie is NOT one pound times one foot.

This interrelationship among units makes computations very easy to do in the meteric system. Using English units, you almost always have to apply conversion factors, because units tend not to be related. Conversion factors are not difficult to apply, but they are a pain in the @$$.

Jefferson did a lot of engineering calculation in his life. He probably would have loved the metric system. When you don't have to worry about conversion factors, the units "take care of themselves."

Even so, I do see the attraction of other systems of units. In particular, I find Fahrenheit units to be far more useful than Kelvins, for several reasons. First, the normal range of temperatures that a human may experience (very cold to very hot) are, in Celsius units, about -18 to 38, and in Kelvins, about 255 to 311. But the normal range of temperatures that a human may experience are, on the Farenheit scale, about 0 to 100. When looked at this way, the range provided by the Farenheit scale seems to be a good choice, and Kelvins seem terribly awkward.

And by the way, I don't believe most of the world uses the Kelvin scale for everyday measurements, even though the Kelvin is the unit of thermodyanamic temperature. (One can easily convert Kelvins to degrees Celsius by subtracting 273.)

Also, each Kelvin (degree Celsius) is equal to 1.8 degrees Farenheit. Many people are sensitive to temperature changes as small as one degree Farenheit. Until we start speaking in terms of half a degree, using the Farenheit scale makes some sense.

 

[davefoc]

A little tilting at windmills here Brown?

I've done a little tilting myself on this one. I was working for a handheld computer company and I wanted to switch the new design over to metric screws since we were forced to use metric screws for part of it because of the need to mount a device that used metric screws. I thought this would be a slam dunk decision, 40% of our sales were overseas and it was time to leave the old behind, right?

Wrong. Manufacuturing didn't want any part of metric screws. They had their bins, they had their vendors, they were happy. Field service didn't want any part of metric, they had there spare screws in the foreign countries and they were happy. Marketing could have cared less. So we ended up dyeing the few metric screws blue so they didn't get confused with the non-metric and we stayed with non-metric.

There's another issue that you might have tilted at while you were at it. Tooling and metal parts in general in the US are almost always designed using mils (thousands of an inch). This is a nice convenient unit, albeit not compatible with the metric system.

Most other measurement in the US are based on fractions. This is an awkward approach compared to just using mils. How many times every day does somebody make a mistake while trying to add numbers like 7/32 and 3/8. Mils would be enormously easier and less error prone but I don't see any changes happening in that direction either.

 

[Brown]

A little tilting at windmills here Brown?

Yes and no.

Folks who need to use multiple scientific units (e.g., chemists, physicists, engineers) learn the benefits of the SI system at once. Many of them prefer it. I haven't met too many of them who would fight to keep the old outdated units.

But there are a lot of folks (many of them rather, well, uninformed about science) who feel that the metric system is a tool of satan. This is no exaggeration. Some folks in the USA actually believe this.

Others don't like the idea of "the government" telling us that we have to use liters in our recipes, instead of cups and tablespoons. I have heard this argument made in all seriousness, too.

And there are also those who are upset about all of the infrastructure that would have to be replaced, such as mile markers. Of course, all sorts of government specifications or regulations or public records would have to be rewritten, at tremendous cost, they say.

Plus, you always run into the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" crowd, which usually sits next to the "That's the way we've always done it" clique at the coffee shop.

So it's unlikely that the USA is ever going to move completely to the metric system soon. And that's too bad. Some people just prefer an inferior system because they're used to it, I guess.

One of my other points, by the way, was that Randi seemed to think that the Farenheit scale is outdated. I don't think it is.

 

[K-W]

Which will come first. THe US switching to the metric system, or computers so taking over computation that it doesnt matter?

 

[Ladewig]

There is nothing inherently wrong with using feet and pounds as units of length and force. But in comparison to the English system, the metric system makes computation of quantities so much easier.

I disagree. Any system that uses the same term for measuring weight and volume (ounce) is ludicrous.

Others don't like the idea of "the government" telling us that we have to use liters in our recipes, instead of cups and tablespoons. I have heard this argument made in all seriousness, too.

That's not just a U.S. thing. When Ireland converted over a few years back, the cry from the pubs was so loud that the legislation describing the changes had to specifically exempt pints (when used to measure ale).

Which will come first. THe US switching to the metric system, or computers so taking over computation that it doesnt matter?

I tried imagining what measuring computer storage space would be like if it were measured in English Scale units instead of using Metric prefixes, but my head started huring.

 

[afree87]

I know full well about the dumb manufacturing supply thing, but even so, I've never had to pull out my calculator to change kilometers into meters. Of course, some of my teachers have asked me to give answers in Imperial units, but converting meters into furlongs and kilos into hogsheads is pretty easy, too.

There are some websites all about why the U.S. should stay with the Imperial system, and they're about as hilarious as the ones whining to "Take US out of the UN".

 

[davefoc]

Well we just had fun,
My wife just asked about how much of a cup five ounces of cheese was. This led, of course, to ladewig's issue with a volume measurement and a weight measurement having the same name.

This led to a discussion of density with my daughter and predictions of whether cheese would float or not. (My thought was that cheese would float seeing that it consists mostly of fat, in fact both mozzarella and parmesan sink). For those of you interested (undoubtedly a small number) five ounces (by weight)of parmesan cheese has a volume of four ounces. Finally we finished with a little topic on how to converst fluid ounces to pints and quarts. How can anybody argue for the metric system when fun like this is available with the English system?

And then there was the fun we didn't get into like that an ounce of water is only .96 fluid ounces or about how precious metals are measured in troy ounces which weigh somewhat more than a regular ounce.

Of course the important question is how many drams a board foot of parmesan weighs. That would be about 816.

 

[Quixote]

For those of you interested (undoubtedly a small number) five ounces (by weight)of parmesan cheese has a volume of four ounces.

Is that grated or melted?

 

[corplinx]

Let me be crusty here for a minute. I love and loathe imperial units. Beer by the pint, milk by the gallon, and tea by the cup. I think going gung ho and forcing everyone to give up imperial measures that have a good natural utility is wrong.

On the scientific end of milk production, you put so many milliliters in a jug. The consumer buys the jug as a gallon.

Some measures just seem to "fit". Any remember 1 gallon glass bottles of soda? Somehow the 2 liter just "fits".

However, when I read about scientists whose creations fail because of some metric/imperial mixup, I nearly pop a vein. Silly scientists, imperial units are for consumers!

The metric system was a great idea for standard measures. However in the process of designing them, someone forgot to ask "how useful will this be for my mom?".

I think the lesson is that utility can be just as important as technical merit.

 

[arcticpenguin]

There is nothing inherently wrong with using feet and pounds as units of length and force. But in comparison to the English system, the metric system makes computation of quantities so much easier.

Paraphrase "The English system of units makes it difficult to compute quantities"

If you're going to contradict yourself in your first paragraph, you're not leaving much work for those of us who would refute you.

 

[Ladewig]

Beer by the pint, milk by the gallon, and tea by the cup. I think going gung ho and forcing everyone to give up imperial measures that have a good natural utility is wrong.

On the scientific end of milk production, you put so many milliliters in a jug. The consumer buys the jug as a gallon.

Some measures just seem to "fit". Any remember 1 gallon glass bottles of soda? Somehow the 2 liter just "fits".

There are probably a fair number of good examples you could have chosen, but milk by the gallon is hardly one of them. A four-liter container holds only 6% more than a U.S. gallon (not to be confused with an imperial gallon). One can not seriously maintain that 128 fl. oz. container of milk has more natural utility than 135 fl. oz. container of milk.

 

[Brown]

Re: Re: In praise of the metric system

Paraphrase "The English system of units makes it difficult to compute quantities"

No, I don't wanna.

If you're going to contradict yourself in your first paragraph, you're not leaving much work for those of us who would refute you.

My first paragraph is self-consistent and not self-contradictory. Perhaps you'd care to point out a perceived contradiction.

 

[thatguywhojuggles]

This may not be the right place to post this rant, but I will anyway.

The rest of the world needs to switch to PAL video format!!!

 

[iain]

This may not be the right place to post this rant, but I will anyway.

The rest of the world needs to switch to PAL video format!!!

Most of the world is on PAL. The problem (as I found when I moved to Holland) is that there are different sorts of PAL.

The Netherlands supports PAL-G and PAL-B (the most common types). The UK and Ireland run on PAL-I.

From experience I can say that if you have a PAL-I television in a PAL-B/G country you can choose between sound or picture but you can't have both at the same time.

Luckily, video cassettes are just "PAL" so you can play the same casette on a Dutch VCR or an English VCR.

 

[iain]

Growing up in England when I did meant doing some things in metric and others in imperial (note : the confusion is increased slightly more because some English Imperial measures (e.g. gallon) are different from their US equivalents).

For example, I grew up working out the height of people in feet and inches but the height of objects in metres and centimetres. I understood the weight of people in stones and pounds but of most objects in kilograms and grams.

The UK is slowly moving to the metric system, not before time. Temperature is now in Celcius, petrol in litres, fruit and vegetables weighed in kilos and measurements of length more commonly in metres than yards. However, not everything changes. I can't see a change from miles to kilometres any time soon, for example.

Just as in the US, there are people who see the move to metric as the end of civilisation and/or some evil European plot. But just as with currency decimalisation (remember in the UK until 1971 there were 12 pence to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound) people kick up a lot of fuss at the time but get used to it pretty quickly.

Across Europe much the same thing has been seen with the Euro. Predictions of disaster have failed to come true and the introduction of Euro notes and coins has gone about as smoothly as it possibly could have done.

 

[Ladewig]

But just as with currency decimalisation (remember in the UK until 1971 there were 12 pence to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound) people kick up a lot of fuss at the time but get used to it pretty quickly.

You've never been to rural Mississippi. They're still pretty bothered about losing the War Between the States. Metric could never be adopted in the U.S.

 

[davefoc]

I thought it might be interesting to start a list of areas that have switched to metric system in the US. Some of these I'm unsure of so feel free to correct me.

1. Soda pop is sold in two liter bottles
2. Wine is sold in 750 ml bottles
3. Medicine is sold in milligrams, grams, cc's, etc
4. The military measures distances in kilometers
5. Many car manufacturers have switched to metric screws (I think)
6. Most big time track events have metrically based events (100 meter dash, etc)
7. Most scientific work is done and published with metric measurements.
8. American cars have kilometer per hour marks on their speedometers.

Well that's my list. Additions?

 

[arcticpenguin]

You've never been to rural Mississippi. They're still pretty bothered about losing the War Between the States. Metric could never be adopted in the U.S.

Maybe you could convince them that dropping the English units would be a good way to get back at those d_mn yankees.

 

[WanderingKnight]

I thought it might be interesting to start a list of areas that have switched to metric system in the US. Some of these I'm unsure of so feel free to correct me.

1. Soda pop is sold in two liter bottles
2. Wine is sold in 750 ml bottles
3. Medicine is sold in milligrams, grams, cc's, etc
4. The military measures distances in kilometers
5. Many car manufacturers have switched to metric screws (I think)
6. Most big time track events have metrically based events (100 meter dash, etc)
7. Most scientific work is done and published with metric measurements.
8. American cars have kilometer per hour marks on their speedometers.

Well that's my list. Additions?

Are measurements of computer memory considered as being part of the metric system? IE kB, MB, GB?

 

[Mr. X]

This may not be the right place to post this rant, but I will anyway.

The rest of the world needs to switch to PAL video format!!!

Actually the inventors of PAL forgot the HUE (phase) control and had to stay with the PAL system. The 50 cycle (hertz) flicker had them spellbound....

Mr. X

 

[Thumbo]

Are measurements of computer memory considered as being part of the metric system? IE kB, MB, GB?

No, because they are are not units, just dimensionless numbers.

Those who make the standards say that computer memory shouldn't be counted in MB or GB anyway, but in MiB (mebibytes) and GiB (gibibytes).

Honest - those are the standard prefixes now: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html

They don't seem to be catching on, especially amonst ventriloquists.

 

[Occasional Chemist]

(In the metric system, the kilogram is a unit of mass. The English unit of mass is, believe it or not, the slug.)

To add to the confusion, the commonly used unit of mass in the English system is the lbm, or pound-mass, rather than the slug.

The unit of energy (or work) in the metric system is the joule. In the USA, almost nobody knows what a joule is, but everyone seems to be happy talking about calories. And yet one joule is easily computed as one newton times one meter. By contrast, one calorie is NOT one pound times one foot.

The foot-pound is the English unit of energy.

The calorie is the amount of energy required to heat a gram of water a degree Celsius. This is something of a handy unit for calorimetry.

edited to add: And that calorie everyone's so happily talking about isn't actually a calorie, it's a kilocalorie.

Using English units, you almost always have to apply conversion factors, because units tend not to be related. Conversion factors are not difficult to apply, but they are a pain in the @$$.

It's not that you don't need conversion factors for metric units. It's more that there's a unified set of base units and a unified set of conversion factors rather than the chaos that is the English system.

 

[Occasional Chemist]

I thought it might be interesting to start a list of areas that have switched to metric system in the US.

Power expressed in watts?

 

[Guest]

Power expressed in watts?

Grams of cocaine?

 

[davefoc]

Well I thought I'd update the list every now & then so this is the first update.

Davefoc
1. Soda pop is sold in two liter bottles
2. Wine is sold in 750 ml bottles
3. Medicine is sold in milligrams, grams, cc's, etc
4. The military measures distances in kilometers
5. Many car manufacturers have switched to metric screws (I think)
6. Most big time track events have metrically based events (100 meter dash, etc)
7. Most scientific work is done and published with metric measurements.
8. American cars have kilometer per hour marks on their speedometers.

Occasional Chemist
9. Power expressed in watts (and all other electrical measurements like amps and volts)

sundog
10. cocaine measured in grams


Thanks to various people who contributed interesting little tidbits. I had no idea that somebody was trying to eliminate confusion on issue of computer memory size. e.g. 1K of RAM =1024.

 

[Chris Haynes]

Re: Re: In praise of the metric system

To add to the confusion, the commonly used unit of mass in the English system is the lbm, or pound-mass, rather than the slug.


...It's not that you don't need conversion factors for metric units. It's more that there's a unified set of base units and a unified set of conversion factors rather than the chaos that is the English system.

What mass unit is used may also be dependent on WHO is using them...

In my former life as a structural dynamics engineer we had to be very careful about units. In my group the lbm was not looked kindly upon since it required the use of some unitless "Gravity constant". What we used since we were dealing with weight and force in "pounds" and dimensions of "inches" were "slinches" (or snails... but NOT slugs).

To keep correct units the Finite Element program/models (along with the motion analysis program, Language for Structural Dynamics: LSD) were set to devide all force (and weight) values by 386.4 in/sec^2 .

Now this is what drove me nuts (and out of Forum lurkdom)... Since I had spent most of my youth NOT in the USA I am quite comfortable using SI units. Over 20 years ago during my first year of work I was sent with a lead engineer (who was German) to do some temporary analysis work for an off-shore oil rig that was under-construction in the UK (running simulations on our computers here in the US).

That particular UK company was NOT using Newtons, a perfectly adequate SI unit for force. NOooo... they had decided to invent and use "kilogram-force" units.

My lead and I just shook our head over that.

PS: an aside --- my mother-in-law tells us that her first husband, an engineer who moved from the Netherlands to Canada, would work by first converting all the English units (still being used in Canada) to SI, do the work and then convert the results back to English.

 

[Ladewig]

11. Radio (but not television): hertz is metric and when shortwave is not measured in hertz it is measured in meters.

 

[LW]

First, the normal range of temperatures that a human may experience (very cold to very hot) are, in Celsius units, about -18 to 38, and in Kelvins, about 255 to 311. But the normal range of temperatures that a human may experience are, on the Farenheit scale, about 0 to 100.

I'm not that certain about the normal temperature ranges that are experienced. During the last few months I've been in temperatures varying from -25 to +110 Celcius (the latter in sauna, a little too hot for my tastes). I'd say that the temperature scale is necessarily arbitrary and it is more or less a matter of preference. The one nice thing about Celcius scale is that it makes checking whether roads are likely to have ice very quick, as one has to check only the sign of the temperature.

 

[Zep]

Said this before

Said this before somewhere, and can't find the reference...

Australia went metric completely in the mid-70's (was it the drugs? ) over a few years. The earth didn't stop rotating, the sun rose again every day. A can of beer that was previously 10oz became 330ml, but stayed the same can of beer. A metric cup of milk at 250ml was within a bee's whisker or so of 8ozs, but mum's cakes turned out just the same. Somehow the cities and towns didn't get further away or closer when the distances went from miles to kilometres, and the amount of petrol used to get there was pretty much the same in litres or gallons.

In short, we ditched a system of measurements created in the medieval ages with a newer one of much greater practicality and ease of use, and didn't suffer as a result. Perhaps we have evolved further here?

Zep

 

[Chris Haynes]

Re: Said this before

... A metric cup of milk at 250ml was within a bee's whisker or so of 8ozs, but mum's cakes turned out just the same. ..
Zep

I have waited a long time for the US to change... but here we are the repository of old ways. The folks in New Orleans speak a French that is old... and those of us of Scandinavian descent still make cookies that are not often seen on Norwegian nor Swedish tables at Christmas (got this from a conversation with Swedish Cadets from a training vessel "Alvsnabben" (? sp) when we asked them about Fatigmann and Sandbuckles) ---

I would really like to see us turn from the old (How many feet to a mile???), and get with the rest of the world.

Of course, I still remember recipes for Rice Crispy Bars from the box in Venezuela that had one of the measure in "tasa" ( cup ).

HCN (I still buy wine in 750 ml bottles)

 

[Zep]

Metric recipes...

Of course, I still remember recipes for Rice Crispy Bars from the box in Venezuela that had one of the measure in "tasa" ( cup ).

Yeah! I asked my mum for one of her recipes for meatballs in tomatos. The ingredients are things like: "Make as many meatballs as you want to eat, use enough salt to taste right", etc. I don't think anyone could metrify that, nor do we want to!

Zep

 

[UnrepentantSinner]

Will no one mourn the passing of drams, gills, slugs, rods, fathoms and furlongs?

I shall.

Zep, when I was in Germany we used to get 330ml cokes. They seemed a bit smaller than the 12 oz. ones we got on base. When I checked, sure enough, there was a 25ml difference. I wouldn't mind getting screwed out of 5m (a 350ml can would be fine by me) but over the course of a year, assuming I payed the same $.60 25ml would add up.

 

[Ove]

I'm not that certain about the normal temperature ranges that are experienced. During the last few months I've been in temperatures varying from -25 to +110 Celcius (the latter in sauna, a little too hot for my tastes). I'd say that the temperature scale is necessarily arbitrary and it is more or less a matter of preference. The one nice thing about Celcius scale is that it makes checking whether roads are likely to have ice very quick, as one has to check only the sign of the temperature.

I gotta agree with you there. I've never heard the explanation Brown gave (that 0-100 is what a man would encounter). It sounds a bit far fetched to me.

The celicus scale OTOH is based on the assumption that water freeses at 0° and boils at 100°. Childlishy simple.

The Kelvin scale is similar only it starts at the "absolute zero" -273° C.

One place where the decimal system has NOT been accepted is in navigation/surveying. a circle is still 360° and the subdivisions are still minutes and seconds.

There have been made both compasses and surveying instruments based on a 400° circle which makes calculations much much easier. PArt of my education was surveying and we used the old 360° instruments. Sheer hell. We had to map a fiels and measure the angles-elevations etc. using 360° theodolites. it was horrible.

When i later used it in my work i made the most horrible mistake. We was out to mark the ground for a row of houses my compagnywas going to build and the first thing was off course to line up the fronts of the houses using a theodolite. They was supposed to be at a right angle to the main road and i plottede them nicely at 90°. Yes you've guessed it, i was using a new japaneese theodolite which used a 400° circle.

Luckily somebody discovered before they started digging and an extra weekend of work saved the situation but boy did my ears glow.

 

[rustypouch]

If you don't like the 360 degree circle, you could always work with mils. 6400 mils to the circle. Think about it.

 

[NoDeity]

Re: Re: In praise of the metric system

Originally posted by LW
I've been in temperatures varying from -25 to +110 Celcius (the latter in sauna, a little too hot for my tastes).

Are you sure that the temperature was 10 degrees above the boiling point of water? That would be a little hot for my tastes, too -- unless perhaps I was a nice ear of corn being steamed for dinner.

The one nice thing about Celcius scale is that it makes checking whether roads are likely to have ice very quick, as one has to check only the sign of the temperature.

I agree with you there. I find it very convenient calling the freezing point of water "zero". It won't matter much to those who live in warmer climates, I suppose.

 

[NoDeity]

Re: Said this before

Australia went metric completely in the mid-70's

Canada, too. For those of us who were already in high school (or older) when the switch was made, it didn't "take" as completely as it did for the younger folks but it's not so bad. I didn't make much of an effort to convert -- I just went with the flow.

I think in both metric and imperial. I think of speed in km/h but I think of distance in miles. I think of temperature in degrees centigrade but I think of human height in feet and inches and human weight in pounds (and, for babies, pounds and ounces).

I measure baking ingredients in cups, tablespoons and teaspoons (although the metric would certainly be simpler to remember) but when I think of buying gasoline, engine oil or containers of beverages, I think of litres (ml for smaller amounts, of course).

You might think it's confusing but I don't find it so. It works for me. When it happened, I welcomed the change. However, I might have been brainwashed into it by television scifi: I was a fan of Mr. Spock and metric is clearly a much more logical system so, to me at the time, that meant it had to be better.

 

[Zep]

No, NoDeity, I don't find it confusing at all.

I started my schooling with pounds, shillings and pence, rods, furlongs, feet, yards, miles, stones and hundredweights, etc. Don't know how many hours I spent on detention because my maths homework was wrong! So oh, how I welcomed decimal currency, and shortly afterwards, metrification! Somehow my afternoons became longer and happier!

Yep, we still use the expression "a cup" of flour or sugar or whatever in recipes - it's just 250ml instead of 8oz. Similar for teaspoons (5ml) and tablespoons (15ml). Milk is still in big and small cartons, now 1 litre and 600ml respectively instead of a pint and a quart. A "pound of bacon" is half a kilo of same, and just as nice when cooked properly.

And we still use expressions like "Give him an inch and he'll take a mile", and "An ounce or prevention is worth a pound of cure", although my post-metric daughter looks at me sorta funny when I say that to her...

Anyway, seems us Ozzies and Canadians somehow muddled through being metrified without too much hassle. So I wonder what's holding up our Yankee cousins??

Zep

 

[Ove]

Anyway, seems us Ozzies and Canadians somehow muddled through being metrified without too much hassle. So I wonder what's holding up our Yankee cousins??

The one thing that is most difficult to kill: OLD HABIT..........

 

[LW]

Re: Re: Re: In praise of the metric system

Are you sure that the temperature was 10 degrees above the boiling point of water? That would be a little hot for my tastes, too -- unless perhaps I was a nice ear of corn being steamed for dinner.

Well, measuring the temperature of a sauna is a quite difficult thing to do since it varies as a function of height (the higher up you are in a sauna, the hotter it is) and sauna thermometers are not particularly accurate. In that particular case the thermometer read 115 degrees Centigrade, and it was located roughly 10 cm over my head.

The one thing that makes it possible to stay in hot sauna is that air and wood are very poor conductors of heat. The steam that results from throwing water to stones dissipates quickly and burns only for few seconds. That is, unless some idiot (usually drunken) decides to show though he is (for some reason I've never witnessed a woman to act like this) and throws lots and lots of water at one time. In those cases it is possible to get first degree burns, usually on shoulders and ears.

 

[belinda]

Re: Re: Said this before

I think in both metric and imperial. I think of speed in km/h but I think of distance in miles. I think of temperature in degrees centigrade but I think of human height in feet and inches and human weight in pounds (and, for babies, pounds and ounces).

Even though I went to school after the metric system had been brought in, I grew up thinking of things like height and weight in in the Imperial system, simply because that is what my parents and others used. When my own child was born, though it was metric all the way and a heavy 4.145kg he was too. Now I would have no idea how to convert human measurements from metric to Imperial. Good for my ego too, I never know if I need to be jealous of some girl who is 110lbs!

But there are a lot of folks (many of them rather, well, uninformed about science) who feel that the metric system is a tool of satan.

I guess it's not the lucky country after all, Satan has succesfully deployed the horrific tool of metrics here