Why does the united states still use the imperial system of measurement?

Because we WANT to

Why does the united states still use the imperial system of measurement?
Actually the U.S. uses both methods, the English and the Metric and the hope is that eventually all industries will be switched over to metric.





It is impossible to all of sudden switch from one system to the other. There is no way that all of industry in the U.S. is going to just throw out all their machine tools and spare parts, and start from scratch with a new system.
Reply:Tom K is right, the U.S. is officially on S.I. (International System), but it has never actually been on the Imperial System but instead the U.S. customary system. For example, a U.S. gallon is 80% of an Imperial gallon.
Reply:The United States has a long history of doing things our own way. While most of the world uses metric, we keep the imperial system. A bllion people in the world play and love soccer we refuse to embrace the sport of the world. Instead we embrace American football. We fight for our right to bear arms, even though we have one of the highest murder by firearm rate in the world. We claim that we own the world championship in baseball based on the world series (played only in the US and one Canadian city). Go figure. America takes pride in going against the grain. It's what makes America the land it is today.


In the 1970 there was an initiative to convert to the metric system which failed miserably.


Hope this helps....
Reply:we are too dumb to use metric.
Reply:old habits die hard.
Reply:The cost to change over to Metric is too great, especially since there is no real disadvantage to us for using Imperial.
Reply:Shhhh Don't tell the others, but we are officially on the metric system in the U.S. and have been for years.





The Imperial system is so much more interesting, don't you think? Where else can you find a unit of length called a barleycorn or a hand?
Reply:Probably because of the cost to change over to metric. Think about the amount that would be needed to convert just street signs and markers alone! And thats only the tip of the iceberg.
Reply:There is no real driving force to change, industry already uses metric. The average Joe doesn't know what 21 degrees Celsius feels like, and worse he probably doesn't want to learn. This country is seriously filled with a lot of whinny idiots who would never let that happen. And the government has no economical reason to impose the change.