Metric for Americans
American
exceptionalism often means things like calling football soccer while
the rest of the world calls it football
. Yes, us northern neighbours
do the same thing but it's still wrong.
My
biggest peeve about American exceptionalism is the fact they cannot
get their political colours correct. Every American election period I
am puzzled by which states are red and which are blue till I remember
that the land of Donkeys and Elephants has it backwards. In the rest
of the world red represents the left and blue represents the right
but America chooses to do it differently. BTW Wikipedia's
explanation is here FWIW.
Perhaps
the strangest example of American exceptionalism is that after
fighting a bitter war of independence from the British Imperialists
they choose to be (almost)
the only country in the world still using the Imperial system of
measurement and not using the Metric
system.
So
for those leery of change let's do a quick comparison.
We
can see the multitude of complicated calculations necessary to use
the Imperial System while the Metric system simply requires an
ability to move the decimal point.
So
what would that mean for Americans. Probably less than they fear. In
Canada, in some sense, we have a hybrid system. For almost everything
official Metric is used. The most noticeable changes for the common
person are weather and driving and we have adapted to this easily.
Most of us don't relate to the old Fahrenheit units anymore. The same
can be said of distances and speed limits.
For
the home handyman little has changed. Plywood (and particle board) is
still sold in 4 foot by 8 foot sheets, though sometimes the thickness
will be in millimetres rather than fractions of an inch. And two by
fours are still the same standard 1½
X 3½ inch size. In
Canada most measuring tapes are marked in both Metric and Imperial
measurements. So build away using your existing tools.
As
for cooking have no fear. There is no Metric Fire Department burning
your old cookbooks and grandmother's recipes and no Metric Police
seizing your Imperial measuring spoons and cups. Indeed, most
measuring spoons and cups in Canada are marked in both measuring
systems. You simply gain access to both Metric and Imperial recipes.
So
have no fear America, embrace progress and leave Liberia and Myanmar
to fend for themselves in a Metric world.
