March 26, 2004
DEATH OF A HERO:
Why are we still annoying Americans with metrics? (Dean P. Johnson, 3/26/04, Jewish World Review)
Last week saw the passing of an international hero. Steve Thoburn, 39, died in Sunderland, England from an apparent heart attack, reports said.While most people probably never heard of Thoburn, his stand against a system forced upon millions of people in both the UK and here in America echoes many people's beliefs.
In 2001, Thoburn was prosecuted for selling fruits and vegetables in pounds and ounces when the European Union requires produce to be sold in metric units.
Fortunately, Thoburn's spirit of aversion to the metric system carries on. [...]
It is time for the world to realize that our system of measurement is indefatigable because it is quintessentially American. It's no accident that the United States is one of the only countries in the world not totally committed to adopting the metric system. Rugged defiance of global influence and shrewd isolationism are representative of the American spirit. What else than good ol' American determination can fathom (6 feet) measurements like the rod (16.5 feet) or the pole (5.5 yards) or the peck (2 gallons) or the pace (2.5 feet) or the gill (half a cup) or the hogshead (63 gallons)?
America will keep her measures just as she pleases. She will not bend to the torrents of international pressures. Her scales of justice will tip left and right with ounces and pounds; her quantities of milk and honey will flow in pints, quarts and gallons; her rulers will hold its inches to a foot. And remember what Thomas Jefferson said: People get the rulers they deserve.
Just one of the many things that makes us the exceptional nation. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 26, 2004 10:41 AM
Although I'm not a fan of forced metrics, I do
believe the general disconnect between the use
of metrics in science and manufacturing vs. everyday life may cause some problems down the
road since the neither the metric system nor
the American/English system is taught all that
well today. My first school textbooks were already converted to Metric and then a few years
later we just pretended that didn't happen.
And then came highschool science when metrics were
standard. Needless to say, I never really internalized either system, but I can work more
easily with a metric ruler than an American one.
My car gets 5000 rods to the hogshead, and that the way I likes it.
Posted by: Mike Earl at March 26, 2004 11:02 AM"The beauty of the metric systems is that it is an abstraction which bears no relationship to any way in which humans are comfortable in measuring things."
Ever notice how the same people who berate the american public for being mono-lingual (not counting their pigin Espanol) at the same time can't handle any measurement that requires knowledge of any arithmetic other than multiplication by ten. A reasonably intellegent person can make the mental adjustments necessary for thinking in a variety of measurement systems.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at March 26, 2004 12:46 PMRaoul O:
Surely it's better to have a system that can be successfully used by dullards as well as the cognitive elite?
Posted by: M Ali Choudhury at March 26, 2004 12:54 PMM:
Any "dullard" knows how many pounds they weigh, how tall they are in feet and inches, and how far it is in miles from their house to work. Could they know the same things in kg, cm, km? Sure, but how would that be better for them or anyone else?
Posted by: brian at March 26, 2004 1:53 PMI recently got into an argument with another customer at a bookstore, who believed that America was missing a tremendous opportunity to economize by converting to the metric system. Every little bit of savings helped, she said, and a few million here and there via the metric system was dollars to the good - though, of course, you couldn't trust the people to vote for such a logical system. It took me awhile, but I realized she was a coercive utopian of the strangest sort - content with marshalling the small details for the plebes, not some grand coherent vision. I note that she lived in the Washington, D.C. area and was visiting rural Georgia.
Posted by: Bruce Cleaver at March 26, 2004 3:16 PMSure, all Europeans understand how much is in a hectoliter.
It's a lot easier to make a mistake in metric, because all you have to do is move a decimal point one place. Also, English measure is more flexible, because there are more easy factors in a duodecimal system.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at March 26, 2004 3:44 PMI see Thoburn was a Stonecutter
Posted by: Scof at March 26, 2004 4:09 PMIn the ways that matter economically, we are already metric.
My '97 Ford F-150 has metric nuts and bolts throughout.
Posted by: Jeff Guinn at March 26, 2004 8:53 PMSomeone ought to ask Kerry if he's for and/or against the metric system.
Posted by: jsmith at March 26, 2004 9:42 PM