Information

[andrewducker]

Here you can see a handy map of all the places that don't use the metric system.

I bet you never thought _that_ would be funny, did you?

Comments

[moosedevil.livejournal.com]

Lol. Why am I not surprised?! ;)

[0olong.livejournal.com]

Haha! That's great. Liberia and Burma eh? Who'd've thought?!

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised there's anywhere else than the US that doesn't use metric.

[blackmanxy.livejournal.com]

"My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that's how I like it!"
-Grampa Simpson

[johanna-alice.livejournal.com]

In fairness, our road distances are still clinging to miles (about 1.6km), and our alcoholic beverages are still served in the now cultural unit of the pint (568ml for the bean counters in Brussels).

Personally I do find feet and inches far more human-friendly measurements than mm,cm & m, though through long experience I can do mental conversions between imperial & metric very fast. Such is the wisdom of the shed...

But we Brits can understand what the rest of the world is on about with metric. The children of Uncle Sam would, I suspect be a little perplexed :)

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

Standard Motorway signs in Britain

"Birmingham 30m" .... "Roadworks 400m"

Car economy, 35mpg, petrol sold in litres ...

Milk and Beer are about the only things left that are legally sold by the pint (beer can be sold in units from 1/3rd of a pint!)

While you can ask for a pound of grapes in the market, they are legally required to use a scale that is calibrated in metric, so what you actually get is as random as it has always been :-)

Feet and inches are really down to what you grew up with ... I grew up in a transition time, so something things I can do ok in metric, but others I have to do the mental translation. Fabric is particularly good, in that you'll order 2 metres of 60" wide fabric :-)

But 2litre bottles of Coke have done more for the US understanding metric than any amount of Schoolhouse Rock might have done.

[azalemeth.livejournal.com]

It's only a secret conspiracy to give GCSE Maths students something to do that is 'practical' :-).

[opusfluke.livejournal.com]

Oh the irony of The Colonies being one of the few places left to still use British Imperial! Is it wrong to literally laugh out loud at the picture?

[heron61.livejournal.com]

I'm in my 40s, and I vividly remember learning metric 35+ years ago, in grade school in preparation for the US going metric. Then, the openness (and general good sense) of the early to mid 1970s was replaced by the current reactionary madness and so it never happened. This nation is truly pathetic.

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

OK I'll give in and look stupid - why isn't the UK red on that map??

[coffee-lifeform.livejournal.com]

I bet you never thought _that_ would be funny, did you?

No, I really didn't; and yes, it *really* is. :D

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

But we do use the metric system in the States! Not as often as imperial, but it's certainly in use...