Bill
The railway magazines towards the end of the 19th century often
raised the issue of metrification, but it was always regarded with suspicion,
not withstanding the fact that many of the writers had surnames that suggested
a European heritage as opposed to British. The division of a dollar into 100
cents (as opposed to the pound divided into 20 shillings or 240 pennies) did not
seem to be regarded as an endorsement of the metric system.
Rupert Gamlen
Auckland NZ
From:
CBQ@yahoogroups.com [mailto:CBQ@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of William Barber
Sent: Tuesday, 26 March 2013 4:06
a.m.
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [CBQ] Re: Distances
Rupert,
John Mitchell's response is correct from a railroad standpoint. Here in
the U.S.
a lot of our Interstate highways now show mileposts in tenths of a mile. This
changed started to appear about 10 years ago. The purpose is to help emergency
responders better pinpoint the location of people who need help. While there
has been an effort to promote the use of the metric system in the U.S. since
about the 1970s, it hasn't been very effective. The metric system certainly is
used in some fields such as medical and scientific, but for everyday life, most
people remain on the British system of pounds and feet. Old habits die hard.
When we were first trying to change to the metric system, there was a story
going around about a European country (possibly Sweden) that had converted
years before, but it was said the the wife still sent her husband to the store
to purchase a pound of butter! I doubt Americans will ever change.