

Any Americans using the metric system in daily life? - calid

i.e. in day to day personal life outside of work/school
======
swishercutter
Working on sourcing parts for Reprap's and I was shocked to find out that the
metalworkers in the area had to convert all my numbers to standard. In
electronics manufacturing we used whatever the print had so I just assumed
everyone did. I stick with the standard I am used to which is use whatever the
print has on it...if its standard I use standard, if its metric I use metric.

I still prefer miles and gallons to km and liters but if I am doing a precise
measurement I will use mm. In electronics everything is metric so that is what
I use.

Conversion errors kill spacecraft...right?

------
MattBearman
At least in the USA you're consistent (or so I'm lead to believe). In the UK,
fuel is sold in litres, but fuel economy is quoted in miles per gallon...

~~~
aquark
I always thought part of the reason for the switch from gallons to litres was
that the price in gallons was getting too high. Now we need to switch from
litres to decilitres!

Wonder if this would ever drive a similar change in the States.

I still can't think of fuel economy in anything other than mpg despite not
knowing how many gallons are even in my tank.

------
curt
Only everyday. I HATE our system. Any math, science, design, I only use the
metric system.

It's just so much easier to do math and not nearly as confusing when you're
trying to communicate with someone. Pound? Wait Pound Force or Pound Mass,
wait maybe I meant a Slug. Horsepower, wait what. It's like someone randomly
pulled names out of a hat and assigned them random numbers.

~~~
MattBearman
The word horsepower does originate from some measure of the power of one horse
:) But I concur, I'm English, so I've grown up with the metric system, but
there are also some imperial stragglers around (distance, speed, etc), and I
can say with out a doubt that metric is so much easier to use and understand.
Eg: I have absolutely no idea how many yards there are in a mile, but I know
it's 1000 meters in a kilometer.

~~~
barkatfish
When would you need to know how many yards there are in a mile (aside from a
damn good pub quiz type question!)

I've never needed to know the amount!

But then again - who's used the pythagorus theory since leaving school? :-)

------
BeholdersEye
I excerise (kettlebells), drive (Honda Insight), cook (with Metric kitchen
tools), build (home projects), own Metric only tape measures, and think in
Metric, dropped the antiquated American Imperial System years ago. No problem
if you have the right tools and do not 'convert' measurements. Only buy if
product is in Metric units. All in Pennsylvania. Just use it.

------
3dFlatLander
I'm a wannabe chef, and I use it for all recipes I've created, or adapted from
others. Ratios for baked goods are much easier to work with in metric than
imperial. Same goes for woodworking, and anything else with smaller distances.
Try as I might, I'm still too used to 'miles' to switch to kilometers.

~~~
BeholdersEye
What do you think of my instructable....
[http://www.instructables.com/id/Metrication-of-Recipes-
Simpl...](http://www.instructables.com/id/Metrication-of-Recipes-Simplified/)
one lbs > 500 g one ounce (dry or fluid) > 31.25 g or mL one cup = 250 mL one
tablespoon = 15 mL one teaspoon = 5 mL

------
threejay
I'm a pharmacy student and nearly all the calculations I do on a regular basis
are done using the metric system.

------
deanfranks
I switch back and forth between metal working and wood working on a daily
basis and have used metric for both for 15 years. With the wacky thicknesses
of plywood/etc fractional units are just not convenient any more.

------
maguay
I've almost entirely switched to the metric system in my daily life, but then
again, I'm an American living in Thailand. Hard not to change when you live
overseas ;)

------
zerohp
Not yet, but I log my body weight every day and lately I've considered doing
it in kilograms to force myself to use the metric system more often.

------
peng
I wish the metric system was base-12. It's so close to perfect.

~~~
BeholdersEye
Imperial System is based on people with 12 fingers and toes. Thus you can tell
an American from a Canadian or anyone else in the World.

------
aaronblohowiak
all my running is measured in km.

