I Hate The Metric System

Everyone has always said that hate is such a strong word. I agree. But I truly do hate the metric system. I didn't realize how much I hate the metric system until I had geography class today.

First and foremost, most people think that the French created the metric system. That is slightly true; they were the first to actually implement the system of weights and measures. But, actually during the first congress in 1790, America's own Thomas Jefferson proposed his own version of the metric system, which about five years before the French started the system. As you can see, the congress did not approve the system, and at that time, the congress was approving just about anything. America shot down one of its own ideas. That never happens to a good idea. Examples: Star Spangled Banner as National Anthem, good idea, approved; moving most holidays to Mondays for a 3-day weekend, good idea, approved; building a fence along the Mexican border, good idea, approved. Based on this logic, metric system, bad idea, not approved.

I don't care if the rest of the world uses it. I don't care if it makes sense to scientists and the like. I don't care if it's based on 10s. I don't care that our system is based on how long a king's foot was. I don't care that there are 12 inches in a foot, 3 feet in a yard. Why? Because our system is traditional. It makes sense to the American people. We know it. We don't want to be bothered learning a whole new system. We don't want to change our road signs or cars. We don't want to change our football field.

To all you pro-metric system people out there, don't give me this ridiculous scenario: "How many feet are in a mile?" I know, 5,280. "How many inches are there in a mile?" I don't know. "See, you would know how many cm are in a km." No I wouldn't. I would spend just as much time trying to figure out the decimal conversions as I would spend doing 5,280 x 12. Plus, who cares how many inches are in a mile? We will never have to know it, ever. (63,360 inches in a mile, by the way.)