Wondering why the metric system has never been converted to by the US

Of course they have recipes, but they do not have MY recipes that I have refined and collected for the past 50 years. I'm really into food, and there's nothing I like to do better than compare recipes. Interesting how subtle differences can make such a difference.

I was a math major and have nothing against the metric system. I quite often try a new recipe that requires weighing ingredients (metric). Quite easy with a relatively inexpensive scale. But I spent years getting just the right recipe (that I like) for dinner rolls after baking countless versions that were just okay. Of course I could convert it to metric (might take a little bit to hone it as it's not really precisely the same every time I make it non-metric) - but why? I have it memorized as it is now.

Give me something new to try in metric, and I'll use it as is. I'd just turn my measuring cup to the metric side and take out my scale. But those tiny measurements might throw me. I don't have any metric measuring spoons. But if it's spices I'd probably do it to taste anyway.

I have never in my life weighed ingredients when following a recipe using metric measurements.
 
I have never in my life weighed ingredients when following a recipe using metric measurements.
Really? When the recipe specifies the volume of flour by weight do you convert it?
 


Add to this, that I don't know that I have ever seen a recipe that used weight (only) as the way to measure the ingredients.
Lots of UK recipes and some I've seen from Australia give the dry ingredients by weight instead of volume.
 
My grandfather’s recipes are all in grams. We use a scale, as did he. He owned several bakeries
 


Add to this, that I don't know that I have ever seen a recipe that used weight (only) as the way to measure the ingredients.

Basic Bread recipe
  • 1000g bread flour
  • 700g water
  • 10g fresh yeast
  • 20g salt

Jamie Oliver's Lamb Stew
  • � 2 sticks of celery
  • � 2 medium onions
  • � 2 carrots
  • � 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
  • � olive oil
  • 500g diced stewing lamb, approximately 2cm cubes
  • � 1 heaped tablespoon plain flour
  • � 500ml lamb stock or vegetable stock, preferably organic or red wine*
  • � 1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
  • � sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
 
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Most of the comments I have read on here are not in favor of the metric system due to your experiences. However , as a science teacher, I believe the metric system is much superior, and much , much, much easier to use. The metric system is based on 10's and the prefixes are universal. For example, milliliter, milligram, and millimeter are all 1/1000th of the base unit. Conversions are much simpler and there would be no such thing as fractions. Instead we use a system where the foot is based off one of the queen of England's foot length. We are America, we are arrogant.

Those against the metric system. How many inches in a foot ? inches in a yard ? feet in a yard ? inches in a mile ? feet in a mile ? yards in a mile ? teaspoons in a tablespoon, teaspoons in a quart, quarts in a gallon, pints in a gallon ? ounces in a pound ? Hopefully you get my point. There is no connection like in the metric system. Far superior system, we just aren't used to it. I'm for all metric except for football. 1st and ten baby, 1st and ten.
 
Most of the comments I have read on here are not in favor of the metric system due to your experiences. However , as a science teacher, I believe the metric system is much superior, and much , much, much easier to use. The metric system is based on 10's and the prefixes are universal. For example, milliliter, milligram, and millimeter are all 1/1000th of the base unit. Conversions are much simpler and there would be no such thing as fractions. Instead we use a system where the foot is based off one of the queen of England's foot length. We are America, we are arrogant.

Those against the metric system. How many inches in a foot ? inches in a yard ? feet in a yard ? inches in a mile ? feet in a mile ? yards in a mile ? teaspoons in a tablespoon, teaspoons in a quart, quarts in a gallon, pints in a gallon ? ounces in a pound ? Hopefully you get my point. There is no connection like in the metric system. Far superior system, we just aren't used to it. I'm for all metric except for football. 1st and ten baby, 1st and ten.

From a scientific/engineering standpoint, absolutely. I don't recall ever using anything other than metric in my professional life.

However, for daily use dealing with miles/inches/feet/yards/gallons/ounces/pints for measuring or evaluating distances, it's not all that hard. The irony is that a lot of countries that have gone metric still have little holdouts, such as the Canadian weights example given. And in the UK the speed limit signs are still in MPH, while distance signage is in miles.

Speed%20limits%20sticker%202015.jpg
 
I also have never weighed anything when cooking, I don't even own a food scale so how could I lol. I have a measuring cups and utensils that have marks on them, just as the Imperial cooking utensils do. For example a set of measuring spoons with 5ml or 7 ml labels, or a measuring cup with different levels marked such as 250g (about a cup, just for comparison), 500g (2 cups), etc. I just scoop and go. No weighing.
 
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Not sure what you mean by saying that our distance signs are in miles but the speed limit signs are MPH - that means miles per hour - we measure in miles for driving.
 
Most of the comments I have read on here are not in favor of the metric system due to your experiences. However , as a science teacher, I believe the metric system is much superior, and much , much, much easier to use. The metric system is based on 10's and the prefixes are universal. For example, milliliter, milligram, and millimeter are all 1/1000th of the base unit. Conversions are much simpler and there would be no such thing as fractions. Instead we use a system where the foot is based off one of the queen of England's foot length. We are America, we are arrogant.

Those against the metric system. How many inches in a foot ? inches in a yard ? feet in a yard ? inches in a mile ? feet in a mile ? yards in a mile ? teaspoons in a tablespoon, teaspoons in a quart, quarts in a gallon, pints in a gallon ? ounces in a pound ? Hopefully you get my point. There is no connection like in the metric system. Far superior system, we just aren't used to it. I'm for all metric except for football. 1st and ten baby, 1st and ten.

I don’t believe anyone would choose English units of measure if starting from scratch. The issue is that converting from a current system to a less complicated one is actually more complicated than just dealing with the less efficient system that’s already in place.

Oh, and football could easily be moved to meters if we’d be willing to accept a longer field.
 
Not sure what you mean by saying that our distance signs are in miles but the speed limit signs are MPH - that means miles per hour - we measure in miles for driving.
We measure miles for driving as well except for some areas of the country where the question, "How far is______?" is answered by, "_______minutes".
I run into this when we visit our DD's family in the Southern U.S..
My usual reply is, "Is it the same time away if I drive 2 MPH as opposed to the speed limit of 70 MPH?"
 
We measure miles for driving as well except for some areas of the country where the question, "How far is______?" is answered by, "_______minutes".
I run into this when we visit our DD's family in the Southern U.S..
My usual reply is, "Is it the same time away if I drive 2 MPH as opposed to the speed limit of 70 MPH?"
I honestly answer like that if the location is in town. Why? Because I have no idea how far the store is, in miles. I've never measured it. But I know how long it takes to get there. (Obviously no one is driving 70MPH in town.)

Now, if you ask about Costco, that is 50 miles. The major hospital? One hundred miles. Airport? One hundred miles, but I normally say, "Give yourself 3 hours to get there." (Plus time for security.) The airport is in a different time zone.

Happily living in the South.
 
We measure miles for driving as well except for some areas of the country where the question, "How far is______?" is answered by, "_______minutes".
I run into this when we visit our DD's family in the Southern U.S..
My usual reply is, "Is it the same time away if I drive 2 MPH as opposed to the speed limit of 70 MPH?"

Honestly that depends on what people want. In major cities my guess is they tend to go with distance because the time changes drastically by time of day.

However the drive from my house to work is about 20 min long. at 4 AM I can do it in 15. In rush hour traffic assuming no accidets and just the bit of congestion we get its maybe 25. It doesn't swing like places that get gridlock traffic see.

Most of the time if someone asks how far away something is they are seeing how out of the way it is or how long they need to get their. Since we live in a very rural hilly area they aren't going to walk anyway so its not to see if this is easily walkable which is when a distance would be useful.
 
Honestly that depends on what people want. In major cities my guess is they tend to go with distance because the time changes drastically by time of day.

However the drive from my house to work is about 20 min long. at 4 AM I can do it in 15. In rush hour traffic assuming no accidets and just the bit of congestion we get its maybe 25. It doesn't swing like places that get gridlock traffic see.

Most of the time if someone asks how far away something is they are seeing how out of the way it is or how long they need to get their. Since we live in a very rural hilly area they aren't going to walk anyway so its not to see if this is easily walkable which is when a distance would be useful.
The only time I speak in miles when describing things in my metro is here on the DIS. Otherwise it's in time.

I don't say oh it's about 24miles to my mom's house (which is in the same metro as me). I say it's about 25-30mins depending on traffic.

As to your time--that's why you can give a range or just know as far as driving times of day. Most people are talking about the quickest route to a destination. For example there's 3 ways google maps gives to get to my father-in-law's house (which is in the same metro as me). The quickest route, even with rush hour traffic, is the longer route in distance than the shortest distance. If I went the shortest distance it would take right at this moment 14 mins longer to get there (24miles for the shortest distance but 47mins as opposed to a slightly longer distance of 30miles and 33mins. Normally at the time of day we're going it's 45mins to get there because of traffic though we go the route listed above as 30miles because it's still the quickest even with traffic.

If I'm telling someone directions to my mom's house for instance I say go K7 North to K10 East to I35 North to 75th st and it's going to take you about 25-30mins depending on traffic. I don't say go X miles on K7 til you get to the exit for K10 then go Y miles on K10 to I35 and so on.

So I guess YMMV depending on how your city is set up. Here in my metro the highway system connects you to a lot of things and then you're on streets. Perhaps if all you had was just streets it may make more sense to say you go on X street for y miles, etc. Even then though to get from my side of the state to the other side of the state I would describe it in hours not miles-for example to get to the border of the other state going west using the major highway (which also has speeds of 75mph for a good portion of it) it's 5hrs 50mins right now. I would not describe that and say it's 416miles to get to the border.

I also must admit when I describe things directionals are not my friend. My brain thinks left right versus east west. My husband however can describe better in terms of directionals so he's more apt to say go east on X.
 
Not going to change any time soon. Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act of 1975, it failed. The Metric Board was disestablished in the fall of 1982.
 

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