Europeans use the metric system to measure things. This is the system that
uses metres and kilometres to measure distances and litres to measure petrol,
for example. In the USA and Great Britain people still measure distances in
miles and buy petrol by the gallon.
This is an article from an American magazine about the subject, dated 1986
In 1976 the government announced that they were thinking of changing allsigns on the nation's roads from miles to kilometers. After receiving nearly
5000 letters of protest, they quickly gave up the plan.
Although Congress in 1975 ordered a slow change to metric weights and
measures, nothing seems harder to do than to get the Americans to use the
metric system, which is used by all the world except Brunei, Burma, North
and South Yemen and the U.S.A. A study done in 1977 showed that more
than 2/3 of the American people were against the metric system. A few years
ago the government thought they could get citizens to use the metric system
within ten years. Now they do not expect it to be completely accepted before
the year 2000. Experts say that when young people who have learned the
metric system in school become adults and enter the working world, the
change will really happen.
In its efforts to save money, the government has cut down on money for
programs supporting the metric system. But a few major companies,
including General Motors, John Deere and IBM, are changing to metric
because of their foreign markets. Still, major aircraft companies like Boeing
continue to measure in feet and inches, although they sell many planes
abroad.
One critic of the metric system objects to it because, he says, "You can't
imagine a tenth very well, but you can imagine a quarter or a half of
something." Adds Leslie Seals, a member of Americans Against the Metric
System, "Why should people be forced to use a system they don't like?"
Others say that the change would cause some language problems. What
would happen to sayings like, "Give him an inch and he'll take a mile."? Can
you imagine saying, "Give him 2.5 centimeters and he'll take 1.6
kilometers."?
Like their colleagues abroad, US scientists have long used the metric
system, and at least three dozen states insist that the metric system be taught
in their schools. And although many American sports still measure in yards,
many joggers now speak of doing their "10 Ks" (for 10 kilometers) every
weekend. Wine lovers have also learned the new system quickly. When the
wine industry changed to the metric system a few years ago, people were
happy to find that a liter of wine was a little more than the old quart bottle they
were used to.
