Only three nations have not officially adopted the International System of Units as their primary or sole system of measurement: Liberia, Myanmar and the United States.
That's odd to me. I would have thought that many other small countries with heavy historic US influence (Philippines, Micronesia, etc.) would also be holding out.
It's in our genes. How many times in my lifetime has the government attempted to force us to accept metrics, but no, we don't like it. Maybe a liter of soda is as close as we will ever get.
When I was a kid in grade school, my parents bought me a red plastic pencil cup with sliding rings that let you do all kinds of US Standard-to-metric conversions. I always wanted to find another one like that, it was fun to slide the rings around. That was the 1970's, and it seems like there must have ben a big push to try to get everything converted to metric. It obviously didn't take, and the next time I remember encountering metric was our family trip to Victoria, BC ten years later. I remember thinking it was so cool that people were allowed to drive 90 on the highways!
I used to wish we'd switch to Metric when I was a kid. Now that I'm older, I want them to wait until I'm dead. I don't want to learn anything new!
ReplyDeleteThat's odd to me. I would have thought that many other small countries with heavy historic US influence (Philippines, Micronesia, etc.) would also be holding out.
ReplyDeleteThanks--geography knowledge I didn't have!
It's in our genes. How many times in my lifetime has the government attempted to force us to accept metrics, but no, we don't like it. Maybe a liter of soda is as close as we will ever get.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid in grade school, my parents bought me a red plastic pencil cup with sliding rings that let you do all kinds of US Standard-to-metric conversions. I always wanted to find another one like that, it was fun to slide the rings around. That was the 1970's, and it seems like there must have ben a big push to try to get everything converted to metric. It obviously didn't take, and the next time I remember encountering metric was our family trip to Victoria, BC ten years later. I remember thinking it was so cool that people were allowed to drive 90 on the highways!
ReplyDelete