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Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 6:49 am
by Panerai7
Just a rhetorical question, was trying to convert someone's measurements from 4 and 7/8" by 3 and 5/16" and thought to myself, WTF.
Do you all think we'll ever adopt Metric system like the rest of the world? As watchgeeks we have already kinda converted with case sizes and lug widths and strap lengths in mm, but what about the rest of USA? Can't they run a football in 1m increments instead of 91.4cm yards :lol:

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 6:52 am
by JP Chestnut
Yes. After they ban all the guns.

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 7:18 am
by Panerai7
JP Chestnut wrote:
Tue Feb 27, 2018 6:52 am
Yes. After they ban all the guns.
That's awesome, so never. Great ;)

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 7:39 am
by dnslater
JP Chestnut wrote:
Tue Feb 27, 2018 6:52 am
Yes. After they ban all the guns.
Which ironically are measured in mm... :grin: Try buying a .35433" pistol.

Interestingly, Canada and the UK still use a combination of Metric and Imperial. Like those countries, the USA will continually evolve to be more metric............

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 7:50 am
by JDC222
I still use both.

Metrication started in 1970 in Canada. When I started school in 1974, they were just starting to implement the metric system. I still think in inches and feet, vs centimeters and meters. I use litres, not gallons and kilometers, not miles...most of the time.

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 7:51 am
by gwells
i still can't believe we didn't make the switch back in the 70s/80s (can't remember when we were supposed to start the switch over, it was a long time ago). they bailed on it then and i think at this point, i can't imagine it happening.

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 8:05 am
by Panerai7
gwells wrote:
Tue Feb 27, 2018 7:51 am
i still can't believe we didn't make the switch back in the 70s/80s (can't remember when we were supposed to start the switch over, it was a long time ago). they bailed on it then and i think at this point, i can't imagine it happening.
I use both as well here and there like Dave said. Somehow longer distances don't bother me as much as liquid volumes and small item measurements and weights. Although the worst is when you start splitting inches into 16ths, fn pain :)

18mm Slightly Less Than 3/4 inch or 0.708
19mm Slightly More Than 3/4 inch or 0.748
20mm Slightly Less Than 13/16 inch or 0.787
21mm Slightly More Than 13/16 inch or 0.826
22mm Slightly Less Than 7/8 inch or 0.866
23mm Slightly More Than 7/8 inch or 0.905
24mm 15/16 inch or 0.944

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 8:32 am
by gwells
Not very ruler friendly. :)

I want to start working some leather on the laser cutter soon. Much easier to work in absolutes. I’d be a mess doing it by hand.

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 9:51 am
by fastward
Big Imperial would never allow this.

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 9:51 am
by fastward
However, surgery is based off of metric.

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 9:54 am
by rain_maker
We should - its much easier to use.
All we need is for the NFL to change to meters and in a year or two everyone would forget what a yard is.
Just like everyone knows what a liter is once Coke & Pepsi changed.

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:03 am
by Joeprez
I'm cool with mm on watch related stuff and small measurements in general. But for items less than a meter, I use inches. I have no mental idea what is 10cm long.

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:35 am
by deepcdvr
No I don't think we will, although I think we should have decades ago

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:41 am
by JDC222
Joeprez wrote:
Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:03 am
I'm cool with mm on watch related stuff and small measurements in general. But for items less than a meter, I use inches. I have no mental idea what is 10cm long.
Ed will give a reference pic.... :lol:

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:52 am
by Heuerville
We have a haphazard mixture of imperial and metric in the UK.
Large stuff is measured in feet, smaller stuff in mm & cm. However very large stuff is in Meters & very very long in Miles.
We weight ourselves in Stones/pounds, but weigh small items in grams and Kgs.

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:55 am
by Panerai7
Joeprez wrote:
Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:03 am
I'm cool with mm on watch related stuff and small measurements in general. But for items less than a meter, I use inches. I have no mental idea what is 10cm long.
I guess it's all about what you're used to. 10cm is 10% of a meter. 3 feet to a yard and 36 inches to yard is not as intuitive to me. So when athletes train for a 100m what do they run 109.361 yards, how do you even measure that :)

Kinda reminds why US car mags would post faster numbers 0-60mph then the rest would show 0-100kmh and everyone assumed they were interchangeable

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 11:07 am
by fastward
Panerai7 wrote:
Joeprez wrote:
Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:03 am
I'm cool with mm on watch related stuff and small measurements in general. But for items less than a meter, I use inches. I have no mental idea what is 10cm long.
I guess it's all about what you're used to. 10cm is 10% of a meter. 3 feet to a yard and 36 inches to yard is not as intuitive to me. So when athletes train for a 100m what do they run 109.361 yards, how do you even measure that :)

Kinda reminds why US car mags would post faster numbers 0-60mph then the rest would show 0-100kmh and everyone assumed they were interchangeable
Track and field has been metric for as long as I can remember, (which for me is the late 80s/early 90s Image).


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Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 11:18 am
by Panerai7
Heuerville wrote:
Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:52 am
We have a haphazard mixture of imperial and metric in the UK.
Large stuff is measured in feet, smaller stuff in mm & cm. However very large stuff is in Meters & very very long in Miles.
We weight ourselves in Stones/pounds, but weigh small items in grams and Kgs.
So how do you buy cheese for instance, half a kilo or a pound?

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 11:25 am
by HapaHapa
Panerai7 wrote:
Heuerville wrote:
Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:52 am
We have a haphazard mixture of imperial and metric in the UK.
Large stuff is measured in feet, smaller stuff in mm & cm. However very large stuff is in Meters & very very long in Miles.
We weight ourselves in Stones/pounds, but weigh small items in grams and Kgs.
So how do you buy cheese for instance, half a kilo or a pound?
I buy cheese by the chunk. Tag has the price. Done.

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 11:29 am
by Panerai7
HapaHapa wrote:
Tue Feb 27, 2018 11:25 am
Panerai7 wrote:
Heuerville wrote:
Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:52 am
We have a haphazard mixture of imperial and metric in the UK.
Large stuff is measured in feet, smaller stuff in mm & cm. However very large stuff is in Meters & very very long in Miles.
We weight ourselves in Stones/pounds, but weigh small items in grams and Kgs.
So how do you buy cheese for instance, half a kilo or a pound?
I buy cheese by the chunk. Tag has the price. Done.
That works too :cheers:

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 11:40 am
by dnslater
Joeprez wrote:
Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:03 am
I'm cool with mm on watch related stuff and small measurements in general. But for items less than a meter, I use inches. I have no mental idea what is 10cm long.
Oh I think you do.

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 11:56 am
by nweash
I’d switch to metric in a heartbeat. What I refuse to do is put a comma for my decimal place.


Image

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 12:56 pm
by Panerai7
No worries you can still do 2.5KM instead of 2,5 :)

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 1:49 pm
by Erratic101
nweash wrote:I’d switch to metric in a heartbeat. What I refuse to do is put a comma for my decimal place.


Image
This

As a nurse everything medical is metric system. So much easier.

Re: Do you think we'll ever switch to Metric?

Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2018 3:02 pm
by Heuerville
Panerai7 wrote:
Tue Feb 27, 2018 11:18 am
Heuerville wrote:
Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:52 am
We have a haphazard mixture of imperial and metric in the UK.
Large stuff is measured in feet, smaller stuff in mm & cm. However very large stuff is in Meters & very very long in Miles.
We weight ourselves in Stones/pounds, but weigh small items in grams and Kgs.
So how do you buy cheese for instance, half a kilo or a pound?
The answer to that is oddly complex...
It's due to the older generation of the UK wanting to hang onto pounds/ounces, and the EU saying that we should legally display grams/KG.
We have both.. but gradually pounds/ounces are dying out.

However, in old family independent stores, they still go by pounds/ounces.

It's like that with all products, as there is a legacy from imperial.. for instance - Fencing, and the timber industry.. that is almost always in feet & inches.
So, if you need a fence panel, it's 3, 4, 5, 6 foot panels etc.

Just to royally mind-fuck you completely.. we used to have 240 pennies in £1. And pennies were labelled as 'D'.. not 'P' as they are now.
Figure that shit out - thankfully that was before my time!