inches and pounds
No, this isn't about weight loss, it is about the system of measurement. Was anyone else around in the late 70's when everyone thought that the US will switch to metrics? We even had songs about "The Metric System" and one that had lyrics to the effect:
Well, are you Americans meauring in meters? What is the temperature in Celcius of a pleasant spring day? I would have to divide by 1.8 and subtract 32 to come up with the answer. We're still buying our gas in gallons, and the only thing that comes in liters seens to be soda bottles. So despite the fact that the metric system is used the world over and is far more mathematically elegant than the traditional system, we stay mired in tradition, no matter how out of sync we are in the eyes of the rest of the world. There can be several parallels to be inferred from this particular system that remains in place despite the earnest hopes expressed for improvement so many decades ago.
Inch by inch
and yard by yard,
we find old systems in discard,
giving way to metric meters,
kilograms, and millimeters.
The metric system's here to stay.
Pint and quarts must now give wa.
Think of Celcius when you're cold,
and talk of grams to young and old . . . .
Well, are you Americans meauring in meters? What is the temperature in Celcius of a pleasant spring day? I would have to divide by 1.8 and subtract 32 to come up with the answer. We're still buying our gas in gallons, and the only thing that comes in liters seens to be soda bottles. So despite the fact that the metric system is used the world over and is far more mathematically elegant than the traditional system, we stay mired in tradition, no matter how out of sync we are in the eyes of the rest of the world. There can be several parallels to be inferred from this particular system that remains in place despite the earnest hopes expressed for improvement so many decades ago.
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