Americans: Do you favor switching to the metric system?

[Faith No More]

Yes, but the more manufacturing companies there are, the more time and money it is going to take to switch over. Not only would that cost be passed on to the consumer, but it would slow down the economy and job growth.

[Chas]

Yes, but the more manufacturing companies there are, the more time and money it is going to take to switch over. Not only would that cost be passed on to the consumer, but it would slow down the economy and job growth.

It's essentially the same cost per company, the total cost is immaterial.

[Creed of Heresy]

Absolutely.

[Ryantology]

In a perfect world, yes, but I work in manufacturing, and it would be an absolute pain in the ass. Sure, the conversion factors I have to use can be a bitch, but it's far simpler than switching over the whole process to metric.

Chas pointed out that Canada switched with little trouble, but Canada doesn't have the manufacturing that we do.

It could be a gradual thing. You'd probably want to acclimate people to it a bit at a time before you start changing road signs and stuff.

[wolf39us]

It would be extremely easy for me to switch given that I've majored in electrical engineering. I think the metric system makes much more sense over the imperial setup. Also, we should toss this AM, PM crap too

[Tartarus Sauce]

LET ME KEEP MY DUMB PEOPLE MEASUREMENTS! THEY MAKE ME FEEL WARM AND FUZZY!

I DON'T WANT SMART PEOPLE MEASUREMENTS!

[wolf39us]

0 is freezing, 100 is boiling (given elevation @ 0 ft of course)

What could be easier :-)

[zebo-the-fat]

Here in the UK I use miles and kilometers depending on the situation, engineering stuff is all metric, money is metric, time - I was brought up on the 24 hour clock and have to think about 12 hour times (which 9 o'clock do they mean??) but there is no way I can cope with Fahrenheit temperatures - it makes no kind of sense to me at all!

[NoraBrimstone]

Fahrenheit is nonsense. I try to pretend it doesn't exist.

I also have a problem with a 12 hour clock, especially at work when an old or stupid person asks for an advance ticket for, say, "7.30" and it seldom crosses my kind that they might actually mean "19.30" until I give them a ticket for the wrong train, which they don't notice either until on the day when they have to buy a new ticket because they have one that was only valid 12 hours previously.

[là bạn điên]

I am surprised Nora that you still learned Imperial at school, given your various comments about events you must still be in your early 2Os. I was taught both way back in 1972. My Elder Brother learned Pounds Shillings and Pence.

Imperial is pointless and US measurements aren;t even the same as imperial ones. they have no idea what a pint is and have different sized gallonsa dn Ounces of fluid

Change can;t happen overnight. We decided to go metric in the early sixties then started teaching it in schools until only a few years ago we abolished its usage completely for weights.

Metric was started by Posttheists (ie those who rejected Christianity but took up pantheism or Atheism during the aftermath of the French revolution) and is a standard si unit. Si units are incredibly easy to work out. They are based on 8 different constants.
The Meter is the distance between the Equator and the North Pole. The Kilogram is the amount of water at its heaviest temperature (about 4*c) contained by 10cm cubed which by complete coincidence happens to be a litre all SI Units work out perfectly based on the 8 constants.