No Deb, I don't disagree with you. I said "most Americans" would agree with Marilyn. I used metric in medical practice (mg., ml or cc, litre, ) every day of my working life. Drug doses are usually given in mg per Kilo of body weight. IV fluid calculated in ml/kilo/min. Drug infusions in ug/kilo/min...

But I do have to look up measurements that I don't normally use, like calculating nutrition information for a recipe: many things are listed in oz. and cups, others in grams... and those I have to ask Alexa to convert. She lives in my kitchen.

I was simply agreeing with Marilyn because, most older people I know, aren't at all familiar with the metric system, and, like Marilyn, don't want to be forced to learn something foreign to them later in life.

What you say about kids is so true: they absorb knowledge like sponges. A ten year old who has grown up with computers could put my computer skills to shame.

Karen

I would find it a definite challenge (and likely an irritation) to make a blanket switch to the metric system. I do, however, think that is what needs to happen. That said, I can only speak for myself, one older American person.

kqcrna said:I was simply agreeing with Marilyn because, most older people I know, aren't at all familiar with the metric system, and, like Marilyn, don't want to be forced to learn something foreign to them later in life.

Exactly!

Older people tend to get stubborn and resist everything, any change, especially on their gardening website is unwelcomed. But if we are forced to accept the change most times we realize the change is actually better. Most of the resistance comes from being lazy and not wanting to learn new ways. If that behavior was shown in our children, we would lecture them and ask them if they wanted to grow up to be old and ignorant, we would try and encourage them to keep up with the times so job opportunities would not pass them by. Yet, for some reason older people seem to accept such stubborn resistance and laziness for themselves. I think that if we as a group of older people decided we would learn the metric system that there would be very few who could not do it in a very short period of time(if it were put into actual daily use where we had to use it). Then we would not be bothered by the aggravation of having two systems and would not need conversion charts in the shop or kitchen anymore. I confess that I am not very good with the metric system, I do know the basics and if we converted to the metric system feel I could learn that with everyday use pretty quickly. I have tried to learn Spanish in my old age, not very successfully I admit. Of course I took French in high school and never was very successful with that either. When I was young I stayed with my german aunt and her parents, picked up German pretty quickly. But after years of not using the language it all vanished from my memory. The point being we don't tend to learn things that we don't use on a regular basis

You nailed it Larry - if you don't use the knowledge, it slips away. If we did make the change, we would be forced to use it, and it would become automatic to us in a relatively short period of time. I can get used to the metric system fairly easily while traveling when it comes to linear measurements - I have a basic idea how far a kilometer is or how long a centimeter is. Weights and liquids seem pretty easy to get a hold of as well - buying things by the kilo and liter doesn't seem overwhelming. For some reason temperature just won't go there for me, although people around me are talking in centigrade. I think it's because, for some reason, I feel a need to know when someone says it's X degrees, how hot that really is in Fahrenheit. I'm not sure why that is - it seems like there aren't quite enough degrees on the centigrade scale for me!

I'll bet after one full year of four seasons with a centigrade thermometer we all would have a very good idea of centigrade temps.

It does help with temperature to just forget the old way and start forming new ideas about how hot or cold certain degrees are in centigrade. The formula for converting them is only probably useful to a maths genius, I could not do it in my head. First of all it changes as you go up and down the scale, if 'Multiply by 9, then divide by 5, then add 32' seems a reasonable exercise for daily living - you are more mathematically inclined than I am. I can't even remember addresses that are all number streets.

I know that I am comfortable from 25°c to 30°c and that over 35°c feels hot and under 20°c has me shivering. So, that's all I need. My oven is in Centigrade but then so are many of my recipes. I bought a kitchen scale because all the recipes down here give amounts by weight not cups. I find it messier but then Europeans tell me they hate using US recipes because they seem so inexact.

extranjera said:It does help with temperature to just forget the old way and start forming new ideas about how hot or cold certain degrees are in centigrade. The formula for converting them is only probably useful to a maths genius, I could not do it in my head. First of all it changes as you go up and down the scale, if 'Multiply by 9, then divide by 5, then add 32' seems a reasonable exercise for daily living - you are more mathematically inclined than I am. I can't even remember addresses that are all number streets.

I know that I am comfortable from 25°c to 30°c and that over 35°c feels hot and under 20°c has me shivering. So, that's all I need. My oven is in Centigrade but then so are many of my recipes. I bought a kitchen scale because all the recipes down here give amounts by weight not cups. I find it messier but then Europeans tell me they hate using US recipes because they seem so inexact.

And -40 C is -40F! Know that one too well unfortunately!
I still convert a lot of things despite having lived with the metric system for a lot of years. In the garden if a plant is 30 cm, I think, ahh, 12 in and so on.
When I buy an item by weight, it is always converted in my head to lbs. Had to use the metric system during my working years as I was in the medical field, but struggled with some of those measurements in everyday life.
In Canada, it still is mostly a "hybrid" of the two systems, except for the very young who only learn metric.

That surprises me. I thought Canada was all metric.

Karen

kqcrna said:That surprises me. I thought Canada was all metric.

Karen

Well, officially it is, but frequently the old imperial system is apparent for those of us of a more mature nature for certain circumstances. For things like speed limits, distance measurements, etc it's all metric.