Imperial system and USA

[rado84]

I've always wondered what is the thing/the event in USA's past that made the country to use imperial measurement system? There are only a few countries in the world using the imperial system and I know only 3 - USA, UK and Australia. As far as I know the most countries, like mine, are using the metric system where everything is so much simpler (not to mention easier to remember) - 1 cm is 10 milimeters, 100 cm is 1 meter, 1 km is 1000 meters, 1 kg is 1000 grams and so on.
So far I've learned some of the imperial values, like an inch, a mile, a yard but the lbs gives me a serious headache.
So, do you know what made America to use the imperial system?

I thought to post the topic in "History" but it's not exactly history related, so I decided Off-topic is the better place for it.

[Jesster]

It's not too difficult to figure that out. The imperial measurement system was used by the UK, which is where American culture originated from.

Americans (excluding some people like me) think their country is always the greatest country on the planet and will automatically reject most ideas from other cultures. That's a massive generalization and I know it, but it's true enough to justify where I'm going. We don't like change, so this makes us insanely stubborn. If it's something we've been doing for generations, it's going to take a large cultural shift for us to give it up and adjust to the new system.

Even I have a tough time not using the imperial system because I'm surrounded by it every day. I enjoy talking with people from other countries because it allows me to think differently. The metric system is obviously superior and I would love to have that become the standard here. I just doubt that will happen here any time soon.

[SteelCurtain]

The origins are from the UK, but the stubborn resistance to an objectively superior system is all 'Murrican.

Plus there is a significant cost to switching, and I don't know that there could be a gradual switch. We are notoriously adverse to spending money on infrastructure, so this also compounds the issue.

Most academically inclined people in America would be on board with the change.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

Just changing all those MPH signs in the UK would cost tens of millions.

Not to mention all the cars that use imperial measurements. It is weird when you think about it not using metric, but as a Brit I'm just used to using feet, pounds and ounces, miles and pints ^_^

[rado84]

It's not too difficult to figure that out. The imperial measurement system was used by the UK, which is where American culture originated from.

Americans (excluding some people like me) think their country is always the greatest country on the planet and will automatically reject most ideas from other cultures. That's a massive generalization and I know it, but it's true enough to justify where I'm going. We don't like change, so this makes us insanely stubborn. If it's something we've been doing for generations, it's going to take a large cultural shift for us to give it up and adjust to the new system.

Even I have a tough time not using the imperial system because I'm surrounded by it every day. I enjoy talking with people from other countries because it allows me to think differently. The metric system is obviously superior and I would love to have that become the standard here. I just doubt that will happen here any time soon.

Some time ago I watched a video about the differences between US English and UK English and on that video they mentioned the reason for that difference was made in spite of the British. So that behavior to reverse things in spite of UK made me wonder why they didn't change the measurement system too.

[SteelCurtain]

Some time ago I watched a video about the differences between US English and UK English and on that video they mentioned the reason for that difference was made in spite of the British. So that behavior to reverse things in spite of UK made me wonder why they didn't change the measurement system too.

Well the kilogram wasn't a widely accepted thing when the U.S. was formed. It wasn't officially defined until the 1790s. The MKS system wasn't adopted until 1901, and the International SI standard wasn't published until 1960.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Well, there IS the well-known popularity in the US of the 9mm bullet...

Boru

[zebo-the-fat]

I am British and have been involved in science and engineering all my life, in these areas almost everyone uses metric units. I have never understood why anyone would use the Fahrenheit scale for temperature, it is so illogical, centigrade is simple - 0 is freezing, 100 is boiling, 20 is room temperature. As far as distance is concerned I find it easy to switch between miles and kilometers, I have no preference. Volume and weight is simple - a cubic meter of water weighs 1 tonne, can't get easier than that!

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

-p-I tend to think in different units, depending on what I'm thinking about. Examples:

-I'm, 6'4" tall, not 1.93m.  

-I buy petrol by the litre, foodstuffs by the pound.  

-I weigh '15 stone and 5', not 215 lbs.  

-The temperature outside is 8C, not 47 F.

-The distance from my home down to Auckland isn't 243km, or 150 miles.  It's 3 hours.

Boru

[chimp3]

Working as a nurse I use metric measurements. Although when taking a persons temperature some prefer Fahrenheit. Same with a persons weight , some prefer Imperial. We are still mixing the systems. In the public sphere I see no sign of change. Every food label has both ounces and milliliters but no one pays any attention. I guess it really does not matter since when we are driving we are not conducting research. We are not a nation of scientists that is for sure.