"graham" > wrote in message
...
>
> "blake murphy" > wrote in message
> ...
>> On Sun, 12 Jul 2009 08:44:56 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
>>
>>> "pat" > wrote in message
>>> ...
>>>> Pennyaline wrote:
>>>>>James Silverton wrote:
>>>>>>Well, I won't hold onto my hat since theMetric systemhas been *legal*
>>>>>>here for about a century. I'd also forgotten what was a "Chopine" :-)
>>>>>
>>>>>It may be legal, young fella, but it isn't American!
>>>>
>>>> There are US laws that forbid metrication. US Federal law (the FPLA,
>>>> for example) forbids metric-only labels on most prepackaged things you
>>>> see in the supermarket.
>>>
>>> Probably because too many people would not know how to easily do the
>>> conversion or think in metric terms. Bacon has always been a pound and
>>> thus
>>> will remain so, or something like that. 500 grams or a half kilo would
>>> make
>>> their brain hurt.
>>>
>>> The two reasons I've always run into is a large percentage just don't
>>> want
>>> to change and are afraid, another big group thinks the US system is
>>> superior, just because it is the US system. We are in a world economy,
>>> like
>>> it or not, and if we used metric, it would be easier for our country to
>>> deal
>>> wit the rest of the world. The Hubble telescope would not have been
>>> screwed
>>> up.
>>>
>>> I've been using metric at work for 20 years now. It is easy and
>>> sensible,
>>> and the choice of most everyone there now that they've used it.
>>
>> i'm not that old, but i think i would spend the rest of my life thinking,
>> 'o.k., a half kilo is about a pound.'
>>
>
> That only happens if both systems are used together. If the US went
> metric overnight, i.e., with no transition period, it wouldn't be long
> before people thought in metric.
>
>
Nonsense. If you need to think about it then it's not second nature...
metric will never become second nature to someone who grew up with English
measurement from the cradle. I know auto mechnics with 40 years experience
who readily admit that they still need to double/triple check anything
metric... they can eyeball the correct socket for any SAE bolt first shot
but with metric they have to try 2-3. An American has about as much chance
of having metric become second nature as they would driving on the left side
of the road.