Metrics

Thomas Jefferson was one of the first Statesmen to propose metrics for a common system of distances, weights and temperature. He spear headed a campaign in 1790 with the French, and ironically he was probably responsible for France adopting the the system in 1799. Since then almost everywhere else in the world has adopted this system (NZ in 1967) and somehow America missed out.

This causes some really peculiar situations. Everything has a kind of duality here. While on the surface metrics is not practised it confronts you in really interesting ways. Its almost as if a conversion has happened but no one wants to admit it.

For instance: When you get your takeaways you are given the option of a 2 liter bottle of soda to accompany your meal. Not 2 quarts or half a gallon but 2 Liters. In fact all soda bottles are made in liters and the imperial measurement given in brackets.

With temperature. Everyone speaks in Fahrenheit, but whenever you pass a electronic bank sign telling you the time it usually also gives you the temperature in Celsius. Every car with a temperature gauge lets you convert to Celsius, and for that matter Kilometers are shown right along side the miles as you check your speed.

Food packaging always quotes the grams along side the ounces, the liters along side the quarts, and even the m2 along side the square feet. Of course somethings are not converted. All the road signs are only in miles and bigger weights are always in pounds. But it is like they meant to change over or want to change and yet they cant.

I was really concerned about the boys and their ability to deal with imperial measurements, how would it affect their schoolwork, and their ability to interact with their peers in some subjects. I needn't have worried. Most of the maths and science are already in metric, the system so much easier and all the formulas are metric that, kids here have to learn them as part of the course.

To be fair America was a world leader in decimal currency, having used cents from the outset for their money. Maybe this is why the US dollar has been the currency of choice for trade for so long. It is so surprising then that they weren't early adopters of the metric system as a whole.

Will the US ever be metric? I am not sure. Certainly not in my time here. For now I will rely on the handy conversion app on my phone to translate for me and try not to look too dumb when confronted with a measurement which makes no sense whatsoever.