Date notation driving me nuts

[esldude]

Well beyond dates or measures being stupid it is about what you grew up with. I agree the metric system is more rational and simpler. I taught it to myself around age ten.

 

Despite all that I'll never have intuitive feel for metric sizes, capacities, or weight. If I heft an object for weight it will feel like ten pounds. I can only say it weighs around 4 or 5 kilos by thinking, this is about ten pounds. So divided by 2.2 is around four or five kilos. I can do that pretty quickly and you might not notice, but that's what I do. Same with distance or volume.

 

And dates are truly arbitrary. So like Bill in England or his wife here in the USA it will never feel natural order be easy.

 

On the other hand a 911 in any currency or measure I intuitively know it costs too much for me.

[Allan F]

I agree the metric system is more rational and simpler. I taught it to myself around age ten.

 

Despite all that I'll never have intuitive feel for metric sizes, capacities, or weight. If I heft an object for weight it will feel like ten pounds. I can only say it weighs around 4 or 5 kilos by thinking, this is about ten pounds. So divided by 2.2 is around four or five kilos. I can do that pretty quickly and you might not notice, but that's what I do. Same with distance or volume.

Of course, because you weren't brought up using the metric system and probably don't use it on a daily basis. In the many countries that switched from the English system of measurements to metric, it took many a long time to adapt and others never did and never will. But, for anyone who starts off by learning it, the metric system is obviously much simpler and less prone to mistakes, as in converting ounces to pounds, yards to miles, etc.

[Cycleman]

Years of doing bike mechanics has made me more comfortable, more intuitive, with metric units for close distances -- millimeters and centimeters -- than with inches or feet.

 

But with other measurements, such as weight, I still have a better feel for pounds and ounces.

 

So yes, regular use can change even us old dogs.

 

Dave, who didn't start doing bike mechanics regularly until he was nearly 40 years old but that was a quarter century ago

[sandyk]

Of course, because you weren't brought up using the metric system and probably don't use it on a daily basis. In the many countries that switched from the English system of measurements to metric, it took many a long time to adapt and others never did and never will. But, for anyone who starts off by learning it, the metric system is obviously much simpler and less prone to mistakes, as in converting ounces to pounds, yards to miles, etc.

 

I still have problems, even after all these years, thinking in metric terms for height and weight.

It's different with regularly used items such as food at the supermarket, and petrol at the service station.

[wanta911]

From memory, the metric system came in in my later years of primary school and of course I could not imagine now using the old system.

 

I do find however that there is one exception where even younger people sometimes revert to the imperial method, and that is with a person's height. For example, it is reasonably common to hear someone refer to another person or themselves as 5'10" and not 178cm or 1.78m (rounded).

[DigiPete]

France officially adopted the metric system on 10 December 1799.

 

 

By 1872 the only principal European countries not to have adopted the metric system were Russia and the United Kingdom, and by 1875 two thirds of the European population and half the world's population had adopted the metric system.

 

 

In 1927 several million people in the United States sent over 100,000 petitions backed by the Metric Association and The General Federation of Women's Clubs urging Congress to adopt the metric system.

The petition was opposed by the manufacturing industry, citing the cost of the conversion.

(Not much changed there - following the lead of conservative older brother the UK)

 

 

The root cause of the loss in 1999 of NASA's US$125 million Mars Climate Orbiter was a mismatch of units

The spacecraft engineers calculated the thrust forces required for velocity changes using US customary units (lbf·s) whereas the team who built the thrusters were expecting a value in metric units (N·s) as per the agreed specification.

 

Source: Wikipedia

[Allan F]

I do find however that there is one exception where even younger people sometimes revert to the imperial method, and that is with a person's height. For example, it is reasonably common to hear someone refer to another person or themselves as 5'10" and not 178cm or 1.78m (rounded).

That's true in Canada, too.

[esldude]

France officially adopted the metric system on 10 December 1799.

 

 

By 1872 the only principal European countries not to have adopted the metric system were Russia and the United Kingdom, and by 1875 two thirds of the European population and half the world's population had adopted the metric system.

 

 

In 1927 several million people in the United States sent over 100,000 petitions backed by the Metric Association and The General Federation of Women's Clubs urging Congress to adopt the metric system.

The petition was opposed by the manufacturing industry, citing the cost of the conversion.

(Not much changed there - following the lead of conservative older brother the UK)

 

 

The root cause of the loss in 1999 of NASA's US$125 million Mars Climate Orbiter was a mismatch of units

The spacecraft engineers calculated the thrust forces required for velocity changes using US customary units (lbf·s) whereas the team who built the thrusters were expecting a value in metric units (N·s) as per the agreed specification.

 

Source: Wikipedia

That simply makes my point. If not for the metric system that never would have happened. The metric system is very dangerous. Always has been a tyranny. Not like when a loving populace willing adopts the King's own imperial measurements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And yes I'm joking.

[wgscott]

Any scientist or engineer who does any calculation in non-metric units is incompetent, ipso facto. I still have some fractional inch allen keys and crescent wrenches, but I rarely find a use for them these days. Certainly not on my bikes or cars.

[esldude]

GM was good at mixing the systems. For nearly two decades their vehicles have a mix of metric and inch based fasteners and fittings. Nor is it consistent from year to year. How fitting they were govt motors for a time.

[wgscott]

Explains why their cars fall apart.