Why the heck does America still use outdated measurement and date units?

[AlaskaMoose]

I'd also mention, not recipes, but medicine. Up until about the early 90s most cough syrup bottles in the US had the measurements by tablespoon. But this did not literally mean take out a 1tbsp measuring cup and use that. You could and it would be accurate, but unless you were American you wouldn't get what the manufacturer meant.

The volume of an American spoon used to eat soup, cereal, etc, is roughly equivalent to a tablespoon. Since most Americans have spoons, that's how you took your cough medicine or other liquid medication. Grab a spoon out of the drawer, fill it with the medication and put it in your mouth.

But along came ml measurements around that time and soon enough the manufacturers started including dosing cups because Americans had no f*ing idea how much 15 or 30ml was. Now you get a dosing cup with every purchase.

You can still cheat though if those are all dirty. It's a rough measurement, but 30ml is about one large spoon, whereas 15ml would be roughly a smaller spoon.

Most Americans have feet, too. Maybe that's why most of us understand that one foot means 12 inches. Well...some basketball players have very large feet. My youngest son wears 13-inch shoes!

~just kidding with you All the arguments about metrics versus "whatever" have little importance in one's daily life. Americans are used to metric and other measuring systems.

 

[monstermash]

More like anger mismanagement

I miss Alaska (;

 

[ChrisA]

Actually here in the US, the common measurements are in US units, but anyone doing engineering or science works in metric. The archaic units are because old people find it very hard to change their ways.

Also, remember that half of the population has below median intelligence. They are simply confused.

 

[whitby]

As a Brit who has lived in the US for 30 years and is now a naturalized American, I am rather amused by all this. What most people in the US do not seem to realize is that most of the standards in the US are now metric (NIST) and they are converted to imperial which results in some odd standards. Cars are made and designed in metric. Labs, medical work in metric etc. It is only the public that use imperial (although there are some odd cases where they do not e.g. Mars landers where the conversion caused issues).

In general where the US either makes and sells products the world over or uses equipment that is purchased from overseas they use metric. I remember during metrication in the UK we had wood that was 2 x 2 by 1 (where it was 2" x 2" x 1M) and it was the building industry that stuck with imperial until they had to change. It is the interchangeability of standards that matter. The US pays money to have things converted into imperial and we could save money if we converted but that will only happen when it there is an obvious cost benefit. I would argue we are paying for the desire to stick with imperial, but make no mistake most manufacturing is done in metric in the US and if is not, they cannot sell their products to non domestic customers.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Not so. American engineering firms I work with send everything in millimetres because its the worldwide universal standard. Its only really your garage enthusiasts who insist on measuring everything in 7/16" or whatever.

We have to supply drawings with dual dimensions in mm and inches to satisfy certain American customers and they get rather annoyed by rounded measurements like for example 25mm instead of 25.4mm translating into inch measurements that look odd to them. They have to like it or lump it though and we aren’t changing our systems just for the sake of a country stuck in an old imperial way of thinking with product sold elsewhere in the world.

I know here in the UK we have a strange mix of both systems like the examples you’ve mentioned, but when in comes to engineering and manufacturing, dealing with the US can be frustrating.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Strangest measurement here is for horses. They are measured in hands.
Now my hands are probably close to twice the size of Mrs AFB’s! Just as well I’ve not ordered any horses of the internet!

One exception where everyone uses inches (I think) is TV’s and monitors.
My computer monitors are 27”. Not 685.8mm across (diagonally).

 

[Ctrlos]

Hopefully, this person also explained that there is a difference in (American) measuring cups when using wet or dry ingredients…

View attachment 2197492

On the left (green) would be your measuring cups for dry ingredients such as flour, sugar, rice, etc. The Pyrex cup on the right measures liquids (and all the marks on it are set for wet measures).

But thats a jug.....

 

[eyoungren]

~just kidding with you All the arguments about metrics versus "whatever" have little importance in one's daily life. Americans are used to metric and other measuring systems.

To a certain extent. Some of it I can get because it has become common enough, other stuff not so much.

 

[smythey]

This thread is gold; I saw the title and just had to dip in.

Whatever you've used all your life will always seem to be the "normal". Even thought we use MPH instead of KPH here in the UK, I would find it hard to change, even though KPH would make some sense.

 

[JT2002TJ]

Not so. American engineering firms I work with send everything in millimetres because its the worldwide universal standard. Its only really your garage enthusiasts who insist on measuring everything in 7/16" or whatever.

Your experience is does not seem the norm... Here in the US, if you go to any home improvement store, you will be hard pressed to find metric nuts/bolts/hardware. The Standard equipment is everywhere, and there may or may not be a bay of metric. This is more than just for vehicles. These are used for all kinds of home improvement projects.

My father is a retired CE in oil and gas working overseas most of his career (I grew up in Asia), even his experience working for American companies overseas, was a mix of both Standard and Metric measurements.

 

[Macky-Mac]

...I know here in the UK we have a strange mix of both systems like the examples you’ve mentioned, but when in comes to engineering and manufacturing, dealing with the US can be frustrating.

of course you don't have to do business with US customers if you don't like dealing with them......probably the Chinese would be happy to replace you

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

of course you don't have to do business with US customers if you don't like dealing with them......probably the Chinese would be happy to replace you

US companies are a tiny part of our customer-base and that discussion is already happening and I am certainly an advocate for pulling away. They are literally 20 years behind Europe in our field and reluctant to use the same technology so I think it would be for the best. Part of our mission strategy is to not have any Chinese suppliers by 2028, so maybe America can fill the void for them.

 

[Cram]

Strangest measurement here is for horses. They are measured in hands.
Now my hands are probably close to twice the size of Mrs AFB’s! Just as well I’ve not ordered any horses of the internet!

A 'hand' when measuring horses is 4 inches but as for where the term actually came from, I haven't a clue.

 

[Apple fanboy]

A 'hand' when measuring horses is 4 inches but as for where the term actually came from, I haven't a clue.

The measurement across your hand. Like a foot is loosely based on the size of a foot. At least that’s what I was taught.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

The measurement across your hand. Like a foot is loosely based on the size of a foot. At least that’s what I was taught.

Exactly.

This is not just a very old term, - in common with nautical vocabulary, vocabulary describing matters relating to horses is old - but was also an economically important one, for, historically, horses were necessary for farming, war and transport until relatiely recently.

The 'hand' (measurement) - derived from a human hand - was standardished at four inches, and this measurement is taken at the shoulder (not the head) of the horse.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Amazing how passionate some people are about someone else's system of measurements.

They’re not “someone else’s”. I own a domestic mfg co with a full machine shop. Those crummy old units are very much my business, because about 1/3 of my tooling is still SAE from years of doing job shop work & before I went metric. If you’re amazed that people find this hugely inefficient & wasteful approach annoying, you have no idea how “passionate” about it engineers and machinists get when this legacy junk costs us millions in tooling, product dev & errors liabilities. This is actually a very real topic that’s been litigated endlessly for over half a century. & you’re not even trying to make the arguments for it, you’re just trying to fling poo.

 

[SalisburySam]

Its only really your garage enthusiasts who insist on measuring everything in 7/16" or whatever.

Here in the UK we do however have a happy medium of both co-existing and culturally there are certain measurements attached to certain things…

I remember my 1969 Triumph Tiger (single cylinder Bonneville) motorcycle and later a Triumph Trident (again like the Bonneville but 3 cylinders instead of two). Loved both bikes but had to buy a set of Whitworth wrenches to do even the simplest of maintenance on it. Yeah, those were fun to find here in the colonies. Have no idea if that standard, developed in 1841, is even in use today. Years later, I replaced the Trident with a BMW shaft-drive and the issue went away for me. When I sold the Trident I included the wrenches for which the new owner was very, very happy.

 

[martint235]

Being a middle aged Brit I tend to be comfortable in both systems. The problems I do have are in cups and fl oz. I just don’t get them at all

 

[AlaskaMoose]

Actually here in the US, the common measurements are in US units, but anyone doing engineering or science works in metric. 1. The archaic units are because old people find it very hard to change their ways.

2. Also, remember that half of the population has below median intelligence. They are simply confused.

1. I am old already. Used the metric system through my childhood, and then later during my teenage years I became accustomed to the, as you said, "US units" after immigrating to the US.

By the way, learning one thing or another has nothing to do with age, but with one's needs. For example, my 96-year old (almost 97) is a volunteer worker at a museum and uses her laptop to communicate with others, etc., each day. Serving in the military for over 20 years I used both the metric and US measuring systems, and the Zulu or military time. Then working with aircraft I used both. In the kitchen I prefer to use pounds and fractions, ounces, cups, tablespoon, teaspoons, and so on. In the construction of homes and such I prefer feet and inches.

Do you really believe that US children that are accustomed to the "US measuring units" don't want to use "metrics" because they are too old to change? Any US American who performs maintenance of his or her automobile is already familiar with metric sockets, wrenches, gages, and so on.

2. Perhaps you are "confused" and haven't realized the differences between a formal education and intelligence. Both an intelligent or an educated person do not consider himself or herself more intelligent nor educated than others. The masses of those "confused" people work and aid in the support of their families and our nation.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

Your experience is does not seem the norm... Here in the US, if you go to any home improvement store, you will be hard pressed to find metric nuts/bolts/hardware. The Standard equipment is everywhere, and there may or may not be a bay of metric. This is more than just for vehicles. These are used for all kinds of home improvement projects.

My father is a retired CE in oil and gas working overseas most of his career (I grew up in Asia), even his experience working for American companies overseas, was a mix of both Standard and Metric measurements.

Lowe's, Home Depot, Sentry and other hardware stores, automobile parts stores, and so on, have both metric and standard bolts, nuts, washers, etc. Not only that, but in different types of metal and plastics (stainless steel, zinc-coated, copper, and so on.

By the way, when talking about horses as some have above, it reminds me of the "horse power" used for electric motors, engines, and so on. After all 1HP is slightly different in metric numbers

 

[mtbdudex]

Okay guys, this is probably my angry 1 AM self again posting here, but this is something that has been bothering me for a few weeks now. I am posting it here because I know this is a website primarily of American people, and I don't know who else to rant this about.


Okay, first off, temperature. We all know what the three useful temperature measurements are. Only one is used in daily use, it's Celsius, and across the entire world. It is the most logical of the three, 0° is water's freezing point, 100° is its boiling point, every semi-educated person knows that. Only THREE countries use Fahrenheit exclusively, and surprise surprise, the United States is one of them. Why? Why is that necessary? Why use a system that is absolutely outdated, makes no sense whatsoever (water freezes at 32° and melts at 212°? yeah, totally makes sense), that is used by basically no one else? Even, excuse me for this term, stubborn countries like the United Kingdom now use Celsius exclusively and primarily. Even Canada, and its influence of the country did not force it to keep Fahrenheit. It annoys me because every time someone says "it's 60° outside!" I have to google and convert it because that means nothing for me, and I don't communicate enough with Americans to bother learning it. I could get away with it if it was something that was used interchangeably in multiple countries, but it isn't, it's outdated.

Second, measurement units. On one hand, you have the most logical system on the planet, the metric system. Simple, each unit correlates with each other, and there are basic prefixes which simply divide or multiply the numbers by multiples of 10. And I will be blunt here, the imperial units are more intuitive and are still somewhat logical. However, once you want to do anything slightly more complex, it becomes annoying. You can't do anything with a system like that. You have to learn the massive amount of words and how each of them correspond with each other. Imagine instead of having to use Kilobytes, Megabytes, Gigabytes, Terabytes, you would instead use Floppies, Discs, Drives, and Servers. It seems like the logical option, but they do not work together well at all and you gotta remember all of that crap. Once again, only the United States along with two other small countries exclusively use this system. In fact, when I thought that the United Kingdom was responsible for the same thing, it turns out it's technically the main measurement system of today (even though many people still use the other one), so I've actually gotta give them credit for having the guts to defy a traditional system. Every commonwealth country has adopted the SI, even if some like Canada still offer it occasionally. Seriously, why do this? Sure, I can deal with that, it's not like it's stupid or anything, but NOT when it's officially only used in a SINGLE GODDAMN COUNTRY (I'm excluding minor countries here because they are usually very small and have very little influence on the rest of the world).

Finally, this one pisses me off so much I just want to die. The date system. The entire world uses one or the other, either a DD/MM/YYYY system (common in European countries), either a YYYY/MM/DD system (common in East-Asian countries and some other places). Both are perfectly fine, as they represent a proper level of importance. What is NOT fine is when a single country just comes to troll everybody and bring a MM/DD/YYYY system, which completely messes up the order of the dates. The month, then a small part of the month, and then the year which the month takes place in? WHAT? How does that make any sense? WHY IS THAT NECESSARY? WHY THE ILLOGICALITY? I can bear with a January 1st, 2016 date system because it is closer to being a feature of the language, but not when it's a purely written form! At least use YYYY/MM/DD if you want to keep the M/D part! Seriously!


Okay, I understand that this was a bit blunt. But I can't accept that. I can't accept a country where there are people so lazy to adopt systems that are, by far, much more convenient than whatever is present, especially considering we are in 2016 and no improvement has been made to this date. And not to mention I'm sure there will be some idiots defending this system saying that "we are not sheeple to follow other people like that!". Well, uh, then you're sheeple to your own ****ing community. Any thoughts? Sure, you may call be brainwashed if that's what you believe, but I'd just like to point out that even though I grew up in a 24h system and I completely switched to 12h. And now I'm (partially) back at 24h. During this whole time, I barely spent any time outside. How exactly can you prove this against me if that's your intent? Anyway, any reasonable and non-biased explanations and/or defenses? Thank you.

Hmm, it’s ironic that user “OverTheHill” brought to life a 7 year old thread

 

[Solomani]

Once America elects an ultra-conservative President, we intend to go back to the Ancient System. Instead of miles, we use leagues. Instead of feet and inches we use cubits. Instead of kilograms or pounds, we will measure weight in stones.

That could drive the Euros apoplectic. 😇

 

[Herdfan]

but couldn't quite work out whether this meant the Le Creuset mug I drink coffee from, or the beautiful Villeroy & Boch porcelain cup I had bought my mother, or some other cup. A most peculiar expression.

Traditionally, a "cup" of coffee is 6 ounces.

 

[Herdfan]

Its only really your garage enthusiasts who insist on measuring everything in 7/16" or whatever.

No, no, no! Do not lump me in with those people.

I don't care if it is metric or SAE. But PICK ONE and stick with it. Don't care which one. But just one.

There is nothing worse than grabbing a 5/16 socket, putting it on an 8mm bolt, because it feels like it fits, and then stripping the head because it really doesn't.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

No, no, no! Do not lump me in with those people.

I don't care if it is metric or SAE. But PICK ONE and stick with it. Don't care which one. But just one.

There is nothing worse than grabbing a 5/16 socket, putting it on an 8mm bolt, because it feels like it fits, and then stripping the head because it really doesn't.

😀 Correct. I am certain that most automobile owners in the US and Canada have both metric and US customary sockets, and wrenches. Now, "picture takers" like I am don't have US standard camera and lenses. They are metric sizes, not just "35-inch' lens, "500-inch lens," or something like that.

Something else that could add confusion to some: there is such a thing as metric time, and decimal time. I wonder with one of the two should be used by all nations?