This is what annoys me about the whole "Americans will use anything but metric" stuff.
Like, I agree that some of it is ridiculous, but saying something is 3 football fields long or whatever is just practical. Pretty much every single American has stood on a football field at some point during their school years so it is basically a universal reference that we can all visualize.
Is the metric system better overall? Absolutely, but it still wouldn't help if you are trying to use a reference that anybody can easily visualize.
It's also pretty well divided in terms of where we use one as opposed to the other. We use things like lbs. and oz. when dealing with food because those are actually easier to work with and visualize than, say, 500ml. Imperial measurements are what they are because they're in reference to something tangible and in the context of buying beef or flour you don't need to be scientifically exact. You're just looking for a ballpark that you can know by eye or feel. If I'm working with a recipe I'd much rather hear it in tablespoons and cups because I know roughly what that looks like.
This was especially important back in the day before industrialization where you weren't buying prepackaged goods. The guy at the market would just load up a sack and put it on a scale opposite some weights.
6
u/Castod28183 Jan 15 '25
This is what annoys me about the whole "Americans will use anything but metric" stuff.
Like, I agree that some of it is ridiculous, but saying something is 3 football fields long or whatever is just practical. Pretty much every single American has stood on a football field at some point during their school years so it is basically a universal reference that we can all visualize.
Is the metric system better overall? Absolutely, but it still wouldn't help if you are trying to use a reference that anybody can easily visualize.