| Are we the only large industrial country in the world that doesn't use the
metric system of weights and measures? | |
|
| Jerry, Groveland |
No, we're not that special. There are two other countries left in the world that have not switched to metric,
Burma and
Liberia. But still, it makes for a pretty
striking map.
In case you're interested, Liberia uses Imperial units (not dissimilar to our very own
United States Customary Units), but Burma uses their very own system of measurement called
Burmese Units. So if you take your next vacay in Burma (
*not* recommended), expect to measure distance in twa and taun, and weight in peiktha and viss. Sounds weird, but to the rest of the world, but
probably no weirder than using ounces and miles in space year 2009AD.
So why haven't we gone metric? Probably cost, and the fact that no one's really forced the issue,
Reddit notwithstanding. Just imagine how much it would cost to convert
all those .2 mile markers to metric! Just be glad you don't live in post-revolutionary France, where they actually experimented with metric time! Seriously,
they even had a 10-day week! But Napoleon put a stop to that. Probably the most noble act of his life.
Do you think we should go metric? Or can it wait another century?
