I pledge to use and internalize the Metric System in my own life wherever possible, so long as it does not impact safety. Further, I will not make it easy for others to cling to outdated measurement systems.
The Metric Pledge
Note: I wrote this post seven months ago, and it’s sat in my drafts folder since then. A post I saw on Mastodon today made me think it was time to finalize it.
We are nearing the end of the first quarter of the 21st century, yet we in the United States are still using the idiotic measurement system that we inherited from the British, and even they’ve moved on – mostly. It’s a disgrace. We look like morons for clinging to our outdated system.
I’m not here to look at the entrenched economic interests and short-sighted political reasons why we’re still stuck with an imperial dunce cap on our heads, but I am here to suggest that, in the absence of any present or likely future official efforts to make the change, we can start a grassroots process to make the metric system our de facto measurement system.
I am old enough to have been in grade school during the failed efforts in the 1970s to convert the US to the metric system, and whether it was by design or incompetence, it used a technique that was guaranteed to fail.
I will explain, but first, I must digress.
You’ve no doubt heard the old riddle, which weighs more, a ton of elephants or a ton of feathers? The answer is, of course, that they would weigh the same, but they would require substantially different amounts of cubic space to achieve equal weight – or let’s call it by its correct term: volume.
That leads us to this question: Which weighs more, eight ounces of flour or eight ounces of gravel? The answer, in this case, is it depends. It depends on if you mean an ounce of weight or an ounce of volume. That is why if for no other reason (and there are others,) ounces must die – along with all their ill-conceived and illogical imperial brethren. Think about that the next time you make a batch of cookies when the recipe calls for 8 ounces of gravel. (Also, think about getting a new cookbook.)
I can illustrate the abject failure of the 70’s attempted migration in three sentences that I was taught back then as part of the process. Those sentences are:
- “There are 2.54 centimeters in an inch.”
- “There are 1.61 kilometers in a mile.”
- “There are 3.79 liters in a gallon.”
I remember these well, and you may ask, “If you remember them after all these years, how are they a failure?”
Simply, it’s useless information. It’s worse than useless because it perpetuates the imperial-first mindset. You think first in inches, miles, and gallons and then “do the math” to arrive at the metric. Let’s face it, lots of people suck at mental math, and even those that are good at it would probably rather not be bothered.
Now, I’m sure this technique was probably intended to ground the learning in the familiar. All it really did was take away any reason to bother to learn, and it turned the metric system from a system of measurement to be used into a chore to be endured.
What is a system that works?
To answer that, let me present the pre-eminent 1970’s imperial-to-metric success story. You may encounter it every single day and never give it a second thought. I am referring to the 2-liter soda bottle. Just by mentioning it to you, you already know how big it is, how heavy it feels in your hand, and roughly how many drinks you might get out of it. It is a known, familiar quantity, and it is utterly irrelevant how many ounces it is or how many it takes to make a gallon.
As a counter, you may have the exact same reaction if I said a “gallon milk jug.” That, too, is a familiar, known quantity. You juggle both of these concepts in your head, and you understand them without any need to understand their precise mathematical ratio.
You, no doubt, have any number of these internalized concepts of various measures in your mind: an inch, a yard, a mile, 5lbs, a cup, or 68ºF. The odds are, you don’t even have accurate measures in your head, just a general idea that’s good enough for day-to-day functioning. When you need precision, you turn to a measuring device.
My point is that the metric system needs to become second nature to us, and the only way to do that is to use it whenever possible. Here are some things I suggest:
- Buy yourself metric measuring tools
- A meter stick
- A tape measure
- Measuring cups, etc.
- Convert your electronics to metric. Practically every electronic device sold internationally can be switched between metric and imperial – set them all to metric.
- Your phone
- Digital thermometers
- Themostats
- Workout apps
- Your online mapping tools
- Your scales
- Live with those numbers
- Don’t worry about how many days the temperature exceeds 100ºF; think in terms of days over 40ºC. (Arizona residents will understand that milestone.)
- Know your weight and what your weight goals are in kilos if you’re dieting or bulking up.
- Learn how you like your steak done in ºC. (I like my steak at about 55º.)
- Learn what feels comfortable for you in your house in ºC. (My house is warmed to 20º in the winter and cooled to 27º in the summer. When I go outside when it’s 12º, I like to wear a light jacket. If it’s 0º, it’s time to move to Mexico.)
- Convert your recipes. It may seem blasphemous to convert your great-grandmother’s volcano cookie recipe, but she won’t care.
- Recipes can be a little bit tricky, though, because of things like “are you measuring dry items by volume or weight?” Luckily, there are people out there who have done this work for you. If you need to convert a cup (by volume) of flour, sugar, or chopped onions to grams, that information is available without you having to work it out yourself.
- You might want to tweak some of the amounts. Many recipes are very flexible.
- If you mathematically convert an ingredient to grams, and it comes up to 47.8g, you can probably round that to 50g without a problem.
- Some recipes, especially baking recipes, can be very sensitive to exact amounts. Just be aware of that.
Another thing I suggest is not to be apologetic about using the metric system. Be out and proud about the metric system. If they ask you the temperature, tell’em in Celcius. If they don’t understand it, that’s their failing, not yours. They, no doubt, have a computer in their pocket that can do the conversion for them. Put the burden on them.
Finally, the Metric Pledge as written says, “…wherever possible, so long as it does not impact safety.” Those may sound like weasel words, but they’re not. If you live in the US, the imperial system is unavoidable; from the parts on an American-made automobile, through any number of types of nuts, bolts, fasteners, and machinery – you’re still going to need that 1/4″ socket wrench. If that’s what you need, that’s what you need – we live in an imperfect world full of compromises.
…and then there’s safety. There is one thing I do not recommend trying to convert: the dashboard in your car. Speed limits and roadway signs use miles and miles per hour. Don’t fight against that one. Operating a hurtling death machine is not the time to stand on principle.
We are not going to join the rest of the civilized world with a top-down decree forcing us into the metric system, we’re going to have to do this from the bottom-up.