Thread: The Metric System
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Old 05-08-2008   #33 (permalink)
LongRod
LongRod is offline

Quote:
Originally Posted by liberalcynic View Post
Hey, was wonder why the USA hasn't adopted the Metric System. It's as if you measure and weight everything as if you were in the 18th century. There are only 3 countries in the world which have not adopted it, one is the USA, and the other 2 are developing. Why can't SI units be used?

Easy answer. It is too expensive. The USA has too much invested in USA weights and measures. We have built a whole nation measured in inches, feet, yards, ounces, pints, quarts gallons so that we can't suddenly change to cm, mm, meters, liters kilograms, etc. If we started manufacturing everything in millimeters, cm, liter, etc, then nothing will fit. 6 millermeter Tools won't work on 2 inch bolts. Trains with wheels axles 2 meters wide will not fit on tracks 7 feet wide.