Big Think

Denys Artasevych on April 5, 2008, 4:19 PM

United States has been, at least in the recent decades, more conservetive and reluctant to change then the rest of the developed world. And even something as simple as changing the measurment system to conform to the world standart seems to be to radical.

Herbert Roque on April 6, 2008, 1:28 PM

i have no idea why the us does not use the metric system because mabe they want to be that special county that does not use the metric system who knows.

Jamie Tyroler on April 28, 2008, 6:52 PM

Somethings have been converted to the metric system in the US. Soft drinks are often sold in 2-liter bottles, liquor is often sold in 1-liter or 1.75 liter bottles.

Car engines seem to be described in cubic liters instead of cubic inches. Medications are measures in milligrams instead of drams, grains, or whatever English system unit of measure.

But, considering the amount of products sold in the US that are manufactured elsewhere, couldn’t that affect the costs of many of those items? For example, does it increase the cost of, let’s say a pair of jeans, the waste band and inseam are measured in inches for the US and differently for the rest of the world.

I don’t know if this is still the case, but in the early 1990s, a pair of shoes could have 3 or 4 different sizes depending on the nation those shoes were sent to be sold.