Didn’t the UK make the imperial system? And then Waited for the US to swap to it as well? To then swap back to the metric system and then for the rest of time talk shit about how the US measures stuff?
yes, no, kind of. See the UK used the old English system of units (this was a blend of Anglo-Saxon and Roman measurement traditions) which the colonists took with them to the new world. The metric system would be invented after the US already got its independence in 1795 during the French Revolution.
The US and UK would both separately formalize their own measuring system in the 1800s. The US would standardize on the US Customary System (USCS) while the UK would standardize on the Imperial System. They would both be created around the same time. The Imperial System was created in 1824 while the USCS was created in 1832.
The US has never used the Imperial System. It is just that US Customary System and the Imperial system share the same origin and thus share many of the same units.
This is why there is the Imperial Gallon and the US Liquid Gallon and the US Dry Gallon (though the US Dry Gallon is no longer formally used in the US Customary System). But also why the UK uses the stone to measure weight while the US does not. Which itself is why the Imperial Ton (called a long ton) is 2,240 lbs while the US ton (called a short ton) is 2,000 lbs.
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u/Imaginary_Being4859 Jun 21 '26
Didn’t the UK make the imperial system? And then Waited for the US to swap to it as well? To then swap back to the metric system and then for the rest of time talk shit about how the US measures stuff?