Goodbye kilometer signs

[Dave W]

Tom Lehrer, 1965 

[Lightyear]

EB2 I hope for you that you're kidding with what you've just stated.

BECAUSE: ..................Werner Von Braun (The USA would've never set foot on the moon without the Metric system!)

I'm fairly certain the Mr. Von Braun made a coversion to Imperial measure - I am quiet certain it was less trouble to learn Imperial measurements than whatever Stalinist Russia was using.

[Chris P.]

A lot of things the German's introduced during the war are still in use in Holland nowadays. I believe it's Mother's Day, the change of time during summer, and some more. Uwe maybe know more about this?

[uwe]

This forum is populated by Beavis and Butthead types: ignorant, biased and relishing in it. But also highly entertaining. So please continue to put a foot or a corresponding amount of inches in your mouth! 

Eb2 hasn't been that brilliantly vitriolic in a long time. Great intellectual marksmanship, I admit it, but imperial measurements are still a dying breed!

Uwe

PS: And you can say what you want about our Führer but he always knew how to dress his age and was never seen in Versace!

[nofi]

aw come on, tell us how you really feel. the bias rolls both ways on this one.

[uwe]

How do I really feel? I'm not taking any of this serious, but appreciate the wordsmithy expertise of some cherished Überforumsters here!  Whether you  darn Imperialists adopt metric or not, I really don't give a millimeter about. Since when has the US ever accepted good advice from the outside when it had the option of doing it wrong on its own first? 

Seriously, this is just good fun. What would I do with all my lovingly collected imperial guitar tools if you guys suddenly saw the errors of your ways? 

[eb2]

I prefer to think of imperial measures as just a breed, not dying yet needing no improvement.  Like the primeval fern, they exist as a perfectly thriving plant, providing the beneficial oxygen and CO2 exchange as perfectly any later-developed plant.  Yet they are an archaic life form in relationship to the rest.  They exist, like imperial measures, as they were developed and adapted to change by evolution: not concocted by delusionary 18th century Frenchmen.  

Truth be told, I find it hard to sustain prickly dialogue two days in a row.  In a note of social observation of a more serious measure, one great reason that the old mile, inch, pound, etc., persist in the US and other areas where His and Her Majesty's troops once trooped, is a testament to the British educational system.  And the devotion to education of our Yankee and Southern founding fathers in particular.  In great contrast to most of the world, especially Europe, basic education and citizen-controlled commerce were ingrained in every US community almost from the beginning (first public school: 1635).  Familiarity with imperial measure was common to every town, even rural (not denying the Jethro Bodine concept, of course).  In many other places, including many nations/kingdoms in Europe, that social institution was non existent or rare until the 20th century.  Most Americans have been exposed to metric, and on a scientific/bio-med/engineering level it is the norm.  Yet for daily life - weather, carpentry, farming, travel - imperial rules as it should.  
To know imperial - for generations - is to love it.

I believe Werner would have had an easier time using versts, but I don't think the Ruskies were having a problem using metric.

And all us WWII fans know that the Führer had an intense interest in the design of the uniforms, being heavily influenced by his love of a WWI surplus coat he wore...of...the...BRITISH Army!  Designed in inches!

And now you know...the rest of the story.

[uwe]

 

I was waiting for that. The imperial system as evidence for a balanced and effective education system.  And I thought your wholehearted absorbing of Darwin's evolution theory had already evidenced that. 

That said, I remember parts of the Bible that mention imperial-akin measurements, while metric units are not mentioned at all. So metric is inherently ungodly and devillish, while imperial sizes are heaven for any creationist. There we finally have it, it all makes sense now. The three steps to heaven are measured in feet and yards, not meters!



And here is the metric version by Ex-Tornado Heinz, who emulated Cochran after his death in England, being of German/metric origin, hence the naturally aryan hair color!



Now, how does Ritchie Blackmore work into all this? A former radio engineer, I'm sure he appreciated the advantages of the metric system, but he also played with Heinz, that is young Blackers deftly playing the lead guitar and solo here (atr 1.30):



We definitely have too few Joe Meek threads here!

[eb2]

That said, I remember parts of the Bible that mention imperial-akin measurements, while metric units are not mentioned at all. So metric is inherently ungodly and devillish, while imperial sizes are heaven for any creationist. There we finally have it, it all makes sense now. The three steps to heaven are measured in feet and yards, not meters!

I did allude to that in my initial post.  Imperial is rooted in the ancient Sumerian system, which is the source of our superior divisibility in thirds.  That system evolved into the famed cubit units, familiar to any colonial and post-colonial American school child and framer of the US Constitution via his Bible study, even if they didn't buy into it like Jefferson.  And as we all know, Noah was instructed to use said cubits by Jehovah himself.  God don't do metric, although I am sure he hears the prayers of people who use it.

[lowend1]

Since when has the US ever accepted good advice from the outside when it had the option of doing it wrong on its own first? 

Flawed logic here - This implies that there has been, at some point, good advice from the outside.  

[uwe]

"God don't do metric, although I am sure he hears the prayers of people who use it."

Ich ergebe mich, Kamerad!!!

[Dave W]

The claim that only Liberia, Burma and the US don't use metric is one of those "wiki-facts" -- possibly true but AFAIK just unconfirmed propaganda spread by the US Metric Association which has been trying to ram the metric system down our throats for years.

Not that I GARA anyway. The metric system is a solution in search of a problem.

[OldManC]

  God don't do metric, although I am sure he hears the prayers of people who use it.

/thread! 

[the mojo hobo]

The metric system is a solution in search of a problem.

I think it is a solution to a problem that has been solved. I own some metric tools (and a twenty year old Toyota), but before that were the MG's and Triumph's. Metric wrenches make sense, 10, 13, 17, nice even numbers. I just looked to make sure I didn't dream it, I do have a 19/32" wrench. Who would make a fastener that needs a 19/32" wrench when you could use a more standard size like 8/16" or 5/8"? The British, that's who. Somewhere on a 1961 MG there is a need for a 19/32" wrench, maybe on the SU carbs. At least the metric system fixed that. Maybe not, now I have twice as many wrenches as I had before.

For our European friends 7/16", 1/2", 5/8" are close in size to 10, 13, and 17, and of course we also have a bunch more.

Maybe the metric system does make sense.

[bobyoung]

I will not rest until we stop IDing engine sizes by liters. LITERS?!
It's an engine, not a g*d*mned bottle of fizzy water!

Haha! I've always hated that, CI's are so much more descriptive. I have two LT-1 350 Buicks and a 364 Pontiac. I think those numbers describe the difference between them much more precisely that 5.7 and 6.0L, no? Celsius or Centigrade as it was known for centuries is easy to work with and great for labs but again is not as descriptive as there are only 100 degrees from freezing to boiling while they are 170 degrees Fahrenheit. English measure wins out in every way, even a Kg is a less precise and harder to grasp weight than a lb. A Kg is 2.2 lbs approximately.
As a matter of fact, let bring back quarts, Pints, and Gallons, man!