On Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:49:54 -0400, Dave Smith
> wrote:

> I don't know what the problem is. The metric system is a lot easier to
> work with and while some people insist that they are too accustomed to
> the Imperial system, they don't really know much about it. Never mind
> that an American gallon is smaller than an Imperial gallon,

The answer is right under your nose. If imperial gallons are larger,
then gas will cost more. It's very simple. People were looking for
bargains even back when gas was 28¢ a gallon.

> many of them
> have only a limited understanding of the Imperial system. They may know
> how many inches in a foot and inches and feet in a yard, but they don't
> know how many feet and yards there are in a mile, or square feet in a acre.

Why would they care? They should know how feet in a mile, but they
probably don't know yards - it's just arithmetic for figure that part
out.
>
> I am willing to bed that most people in this group don't know how many
> yards there are in a chain, chains in a furlong or miles in a league.
> They probably don't even know those are imperial measures.

I've never even heard of a chain measurement and have no reason to use
it. Nautical miles and leagues are not relevant to me, so it's
useless information. If I ever learned it, I promptly forgot. Carol
could probably answer and someone who bets on the horses could
probably tell you all about furlongs... but not me. We don't use old
fashioned terminology like "fortnight" either.
>
> I am not trying to make any kind of statement about their knowledge or
> lack thereof. It's just that I don't buy the argument about them being
> too used to the Imperial system when the fact is that they have only a
> minimal understanding of the system.

More interesting is that the imperial cooking measurements are larger
which is one reason why we have to use weight instead of measures when
translating recipes.



--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.