Pounds, inches, feet, etc standard in the US?

by awledd
22 replies
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Whenever I watch satellite tv and hear these words, if the subject interests me, I have to search the net or use some conversion app. Are these measurements standards in US?
  • Profile picture of the author nmwf
    Yup - for most things. For some, industry-specific items, we go metric for some weird reason. But again, for the most part, it's "pounds, inches, and feet."
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    • Profile picture of the author mirko76
      Originally Posted by nmwf View Post

      Yup - for most things. For some, industry-specific items, we go metric for some weird reason. But again, for the most part, it's "pounds, inches, and feet."
      For some weird reason? Lol! I once was part of a business dealing with Ethiopian speciality coffee. We had to set up consumer prices in Euro per kg, the world market prices were in Dollars per Pound and the farmers were using Birr per Feresulla (roughly 17kg, but the green coffee is sold in 60kg-bags). Lots of fun hacking numbers in your pocket calculator while negotiating. Yeah, I really love worldwide standards now.

      Mirko
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      • Profile picture of the author bojan92
        Originally Posted by mirko76 View Post

        For some weird reason? Lol! I once was part of a business dealing with Ethiopian speciality coffee. We had to set up consumer prices in Euro per kg, the world market prices were in Dollars per Pound and the farmers were using Birr per Feresulla (roughly 17kg, but the green coffee is sold in 60kg-bags). Lots of fun hacking numbers in your pocket calculator while negotiating. Yeah, I really love worldwide standards now.

        Mirko
        haha man, that had to be one really big mess. I wouldn't find my way out of that situation, it just sounds so complicated
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  • Profile picture of the author awledd
    But everybody understands it easy? I mean for eg if they tell me 5 Kilometers, I can imagine the length. If they tell me 5 miles now I have to convert it. Is it as popular as the metric system? Everybody understands it? By the way what is feet measurement? Is it the real human feet?
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    • Profile picture of the author nmwf
      Originally Posted by awledd View Post

      Everybody understands it? By the way what is feet measurement? Is it the real human feet?
      Everybody is taught it. Understanding it and using it correctly is another matter. Nevertheless, 1 American foot = 12 American inches.
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    • Profile picture of the author positivenegative
      Originally Posted by awledd View Post

      By the way what is feet measurement? Is it the real human feet?

      Depends who they belong to . . .


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    • Profile picture of the author Cali16
      Originally Posted by awledd View Post

      By the way what is feet measurement? Is it the real human feet?
      That would make perfect sense, as every human has the same size feet...
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  • Profile picture of the author Jack Gordon
    Yes, lol

    It is perfectly logical to us because it is what we have known and used since birth.

    One of our presidential candidates for 2016 had the audacity to suggest that we should adopt the metric system during his announcement that he was running, and he was mocked from every direction.

    As he should have been. The sooner the rest of the world realizes it would be easier to accommodate America rather than wait for America to change, the better off we'll all be.

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    • Profile picture of the author lanfear63
      Originally Posted by Jack Gordon View Post

      Yes, lol

      It is perfectly logical to us because it is what we have known and used since birth.

      One of our presidential candidates for 2016 had the audacity to suggest that we should adopt the metric system during his announcement that he was running, and he was mocked from every direction.

      As he should have been. The sooner the rest of the world realizes it would be easier to accommodate America rather than wait for America to change, the better off we'll all be.

      The sheer nerve of the rest of the world to not comply. And an American of all people actually suggested we fall in line with all the other countries.? Tisk

      I was brought up using feet and inches as measurement in the Uk (we now use metric). But then I became a lithographic printer and used an industrial guillotine to cut paper to precise measurements. I realized how fricking easy and practical it was to use the metric system. I evolved. So should the US.
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      • Profile picture of the author ThomM
        Originally Posted by lanfear63 View Post

        The sheer nerve of the rest of the world to not comply. And an American of all people actually suggested we fall in line with all the other countries.? Tisk

        I was brought up using feet and inches as measurement in the Uk (we now use metric). But then I became a lithographic printer and used an industrial guillotine to cut paper to precise measurements. I realized how fricking easy and practical it was to use the metric system. I evolved. So should the US.
        Depending on what I'm doing I go back and forth between the two.
        When I was rebuilding my drums most of the measuring I did was using mm.
        Naturally having a Japanese motorcycle that's all metric and my 30 year old Jeep is mostly American Standard.
        Some of the recipes I cook with have metric measurements and some American.
        Anytime you have to buy lumber or building materials you have to use American measurements.
        I don't have a problem with either one as long as I know which I have to use. The only time I have an issue is when I'm wrenching on an American car or bike that is assembled in the US but uses parts from other countries and the US.
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    • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
      Originally Posted by Jack Gordon View Post

      The sooner the rest of the world realizes it would be easier to accommodate America rather than wait for America to change, the better off we'll all be.
      Considering the US system is, in effect, the British Imperial Measurement system, of course I agree.

      The metric system is a nasty European invention dating from the time of the French Revolution when everything ancient or traditional was seen as obsolescent, and it remains largely unloved in the UK, despite (or perhaps because of) legislation to force it through.

      .
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  • Profile picture of the author Frank Hollywood
    Every single human being in the U.S will understand feet, pounds, inches. Some will understand the metric system, but we were all taught on the U.S standards because we are egotistical *******s that had to create our own system to feel special.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan Riffle
      Originally Posted by Frank Hollywood View Post

      that had to create our own system to feel special.
      We got the system from the English.
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by Frank Hollywood View Post

      Every single human being in the U.S will understand feet, pounds, inches. Some will understand the metric system, but we were all taught on the U.S standards because we are egotistical *******s that had to create our own system to feel special.
      ******WRONG******! The US did NOT create it's own system! BRITAIN DID! FRANCE DID! A couple other countries did, but the US DIDN'T! The US uses effectively the one the BRITS developed, which was the IMPERIAL!

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_units

      And about the FRENCH, which one did THEY invent? One known as the METRIC system!

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_system

      MAN, there is a LOT that you can be upset about with the US for, etc.... WHY do people feel the need to IGNORE things others do, and give the US credit for some things others do just to denigrate the US.

      BTW I LIKE the metric system, since it is ONE set of measurements with ONE set of multipliers, and ONE FACTUAL STANDARD for ALL measurements! There is NO way to standardize imperial as easily as metric. But imperial has been with the US since its founding, and I guess why should we really change. MANY people in the US have to remember things like approximately 3'3" to a meter, or 2.54cm to the inch or the old f*9/5+32=c but HEY, did YOU know 1CC of water=1GM and 1000CC equal 1 liter? But YEAH, in the US we have metric ALSO!

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author lanfear63
        Subway's new Ad

        "Five, Five Dollar, Five Dollar 30.48 Centimetre Long"

        You see, it just works.
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  • Profile picture of the author whateverpedia
    <Sigh>
    Give someone 2.54 centimetres, and they'll take 1.609 344 kilometres.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
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    When I was a kid in school I remember my teacher telling the class the US would be metric by 1980.

    It won't be long now...
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan Riffle
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      When I was a kid in school I remember my teacher telling the class the US would be metric by 1980.

      It won't be long now...
      I remember them saying it would be by 1990. They half-heartedly tried to teach us metric. I thought, "screw this shit, I'm not learning another system." Apparently the rest of the country agreed with me.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jack Gordon
        Originally Posted by Dan Riffle View Post

        I remember them saying it would be by 1990. They half-heartedly tried to teach us metric. I thought, "screw this shit, I'm not learning another system." Apparently the rest of the country agreed with me.
        Or, quite possibly, they were just equally apathetic.
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        • Profile picture of the author Kay King
          I mean for eg if they tell me 5 Kilometers, I can imagine the length. If they tell me 5 miles now I have to convert it.
          But, see - if they tell me 5 miles, I can imagine the length. If they tell me 5 kilometers now I have to convert it.

          Here ya go:

          Worldwide Wholesale Distribution of Valves, Fittings, Tubing & Flanges: World Wide Metric
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        • Profile picture of the author Dan Riffle
          Originally Posted by Jack Gordon View Post

          Or, quite possibly, they were just equally apathetic.
          I'm pretty sure most of America read young, 7 year old Dan Riffle's sternly worded OPED and concurred with a strong, unified grunt.
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