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Main => Everything Else => Topic started by: danny_galaga on June 02, 2009, 05:06:57 am

Title: metric used in that most American of things
Post by: danny_galaga on June 02, 2009, 05:06:57 am: while i was looking up 'nickel' in wiki i noticed this passage:

"Nickels have always had a value of one cent per gram (even when special nickel-free versions were issued temporarily during World War II). They were designed as 5 grams in the metric units when they were introduced in 1866, shortly before the Act of July 28, 1866 declared the metric system to be legal for use in the United States."
Title: Re: metric used in that most American of things
Post by: Malenko on June 03, 2009, 09:30:50 am: what about a wooden nickel?
Title: Re: metric used in that most American of things
Post by: Level42 on June 03, 2009, 01:51:15 pm: Shame that it about stopped there.....
Title: Re: metric used in that most American of things
Post by: hypernova on June 03, 2009, 06:41:18 pm: God I wish we'd go metric. And standardize dates like the rest of the world. I hate filling out customs paperwork. I remember to invert days and months, but when we're talking the first 12 days of any month, it can confuse some people. (i.e. Is that March 4th, or April 3rd?)
Title: Re: metric used in that most American of things
Post by: danny_galaga on June 04, 2009, 02:41:10 am: Quote from: hypernova on June 03, 2009, 06:41:18 pm
God I wish we'd go metric. And standardize dates like the rest of the world. I hate filling out customs paperwork. I remember to invert days and months, but when we're talking the first 12 days of any month, it can confuse some people. (i.e. Is that March 4th, or April 3rd?)

Ha! i forgot you guys mix your dates up too. I think it's interesting that the US were the first country to adopt some form of metric (currency, the denominations, not the fact a nickel is measured in grams). I prefer metric, but i can think inches and feet too thanks to voraciously reading aeromodelling magazines from the UK and US when i was a kid. And even now, i know that your average car tyre will be happy with about 35 psi, but i can't think what that is in kPa...
Title: Re: metric used in that most American of things
Post by: Ummon on June 04, 2009, 11:38:54 pm: I've read about old fuss regarding the pint vs the litre. (Perhaps largely by ale drinkers.) I can understand that. Still, I dig the idea of the metric system. As for date, except when the form requires the standard US format, I write it year/month/day, all in two-digit increments, no spaces. Checks, whatever. Never had an issue, though sometimes people look at it and goggle a little.
Title: Re: metric used in that most American of things
Post by: Level42 on June 05, 2009, 11:44:29 am: It's funny. Of course we all say we are "all" metric over here.

But wheels on cars or bikes ? Inches
Floppy/Hard drive sizes ? Inches
Vinyl records ? Inches (the 12" version of song x)
Monitor sizes ? Inches
Let's not mention 19" racks.
And I think there's lots more examples. I remember in Germany they were very hard trying to fight the use of inch (zoll in Germany) with computer monitors and floppy disks. I think it was/is even illegal to mention it in advertisements there.

Even TV's which have always been sized in cm's here are now sometimes being mentioned in inches.

It's weird, if we talk 19", 25" CRT size I can imagine how big it is. But when they talk about 33" TV size.....I have no clue !

It's just what you're used to I guess. The worst thing about imperial is the use of all those 3/32, 5/16th etc. sizes. Hurts the brain. That and that a foot is 12 inch and not 10. And that a mile is 5280 feet. The metric system is much simpler at that stuff.