Why Dont We Just Use Litres?

[BabySealClubber]

I am an American and I love the metric system.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

when somebody mentions litres, i think of soda bottles. there are 2 liters in a gallon. so just divide liters by 2 and you get gallons

try almost 4 liters per gallon (those soda bottles can be pretty deceptive )

if you want to be more accurate, its 3.8 liters per US gallon and 4.5 liters per UK gallons.

my least favorite thing about using liters is that i'm not positive on what order to write the "e" and the "r"

 

[Nevergone815]

I am from the US and I have grown around using gallons, if someone tells me they have a 25 litre tank, I won't have a clue, I would just say, COOL, if someone says that they have a 125 US Gallon tank, I say COOOOOOOOOOL

i too have grown up in the US using gallons. but since high school and during college... most of the time (like 99.9% in science courses) we used the metric system to determine answers. dam scientists trying to convert the world *shakes fist*

also i am the same way about measurements. if someone tells me for instance that they have a 400 liter tank i automatically think small and say "thats it?" while if they just said i have a 100 gal tank i would say "wow! thats awsome!"

it just really depends on how you were raised and what you grown accustomed (sp) to...

 

[Alex_]

it would be nice if everyone spoke the same langue

 

[onemisterchristian]

it would be nice if everyone spoke the same langue you dont here 1 pig onchin and 1 mooin

HUH?

 

[tttnjfttt]

I am from the US and i honestly prefer the metric system, simply because it is soooo much easier to work within. I have a college degree in math, and i can honestly say that until yesterday, i didn't know the difference between quarts and pints, or any other measurements. The reason i learned: i need to teach it to one of my classes tomorrow.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

hrmm, i was told that 2 litres was a gallon. argghhh, ive been doing wrong stuff all these years! shaboobalaboopy

 

[Nevergone815]

hrmm, i was told that 2 litres was a gallon. argghhh, ive been doing wrong stuff all these years! shaboobalaboopy

thats the school systems for ya! lol

and tttnjfttt its a good thing you learned the others or you woulda had confused kids like Dorkhedos (no offence Dorkhedos)

 

[Bignose]

I've always thought that if instead of selling 12 oz cans of soda and especially beer that every college kid in America would very quickly learn the difference between a 12 oz beer and a 300 mL (or whatever) beer. Especially if the U.S. started selling gas in L, also.

I do have a funny story... the neighboring town I grew up in tried to force a conversion from miles to km. Every speed limit sign in town was in km/h instead of mph, though the units were not explicitly stated on the sign itself. If you were from out-of-town you had to catch the little text on the "Welcome to ..." sign in order to know that the speed limits were in km/hr. Well, obviously you are driving along and what was a 35 mph speed sign in the first town suddenly says 60! Sweet... for the extra revenue that the town made on speeding tickets, that is.

Almost completely, science in the U.S. is done in metric units, maybe it will diffuse down? I dunno, but my parents even tell stories of when they were in school and "had to know metric since the U.S. is converting in 4 years" or something like that. Even then, metric isn't perfect. How many different energy units do physicists use? I think its at least 5 or 6 different ones for different reasons... ergs, joules, eV, kW-hr, cal are all metric measures for example. (horsepower-hr, BTUs, and ft-pound force are the English ones I can think of)

 

[mike_nofx]

By trade i am a mechanical engineer (like a mechanic for big machines).
I work on machines made in all countries, so ive learnt to use metric and imperial...

If your using a metric 16mm spanner and you need the next size bigger... you get a 17mm...

But if your using a, say, 3/8" spanner and need the next size up spanner.... you get a... a... ummm dunno!

Also, here if we buy a bottle of coke, we get a 2 Litre bottle, a can is 375mL...

How would you say these sizes in imperial?

 

[windsor-aquatic]

Although it's several decades since we officially moved over to the metric system, tradition and old habits die hard, especially amongst the fish-keeping fraternity!. After more than 30 years of tank manufacturing, I could almost count on my fingers the number of tanks I have made that were specified in metric rather than imperial measurements. I still think that there is a nice ring to a tank thats 6ft. x 2ft. x 2ft. rather than 1830mm x 610mm x 610mm!

 

[Phoenixfish]

im English, but ive learnt most useful conversions
i.e. we use cm but i prefer inch (2.54 cm=1" aprox)
half my class are ****** idiots and dont know 12"=1ft
but like people say its how we were brought up



Please watch your language!

 

[keane]

it would be nice if everyone spoke the same langue you dont here 1 pig onchin and 1 mooin

HUH?

sad to say that I understand exactly what Alex is on about here.....to translate: -

"it would be nice if everyone spoke the same language. You don't hear one pig Oink and another pig Moo"

(ergo....all pigs speak the same "language", why don't humans?)

Ha ha!!

 

[Phoenixfish]

well that sort of makes sense...there was a unerversal language made up years ago but only like 100 people can speak it

 

[blitztidus]

It would take so much time for me to get used to it, as far as i can see it, it should be all gallons if it were my choice but it is not oh well