How come that after 25+ years of going metric a woman on a quiz show answers that 1.6Km is equal to 1Metre?

Question

Why are our roads still marked in Miles. Do the government think that we are to stupid to use Kilometres

Answer 1

The Govt needs to set a date in about 5 years time and stick to it. Lots of youngsters mix up centimeters, inches, miles and so on. We often hear of a person's height given in feet and inches and their weight given in kilograms. It is confusing. Likewise with temperature: high temps given in Fahrenheit and lower temperatures given in Celsius.
If we had a date to work towards, people would soon get to grips with relating measurements to things they know e.g. a standard bag of sugar is 1 kilogram.

Answer 2

1. Jericho 2. World Heavyweight Championship (he held the WWE title) 3. I think Steve Blackman 4. Chris Jericho 5. Six or Seven 6. British Bulldog 7. Survivor Series 97' 8. IC 9. I don't remember 10. They all have been world champ in some wrestling league Vader in WCW 11. None of the above (William Regal) 12. Mankind 13. IC 14. TV 15. Kevin Nash 16. I don't know 17. Triple H has held the WWE title the most times Flair has held the world title in any wrestling org. more times 18. He has held them all (he held the tag belts in WCW and WWE) and has held the IC belt one time, he held the US title in NWA and WCW 19. K-Kwik 20. Harley Race 21. WWC it was called WWWF when it first started 22. Way more than 3 he was on there half of last year 23. The Corporation 24. Torrie Wilson 25. Buddy Rogers Why are people saying that Ole Anderson was not a horsemen? He was one of the original horsemen.

Answer 3

Because the push to go metric in the US has died a slow death... Pres. Carter (yes Jimmy) signed a document to adopt metric over time. This would then allow the country to slowly convert from the English standard to the Metric standard.

Metric system has never been popular with the American public so without governement pushing companies and local gov't departments to completely switch the metric system has slowly, ever so slowly crept into American society. For instance, larger bottles of soft drinks are metric in liters yet a can is still 12 ounces or most of your car is now metric in the parts but mile per gallon is still measured instead of kilometers per liter. The US may eventually convert completely but I think it will take a push from gov't.

The one funny thing I have noticed from a country that is pure metric (Canada) is that they still measure a house size in square feet!!

Answer 4

She didn't know or made a mistake some people even make mistakes in English!
Many cars have both miles and kilometers on the speedometer. I don't think the government thinks we are too stupid but in the States we do not use the metric system as the norm or even spell Kilometers the same. It took a long time for me to get used to the difference between American and English spelling.

Answer 5

I remember all the "hub-bub" about going metric like the rest of the world. It was a liberal first attempt at "politically correct" to be shoved down the throats of the American public. What is wrong with our roads being in miles? Our gas being in gallons? And televisions being measured in inches? I don't hear anyone else from other countries complaining about it! You are the first person in the last 25 years I've ever heard say a word about it.
You can have a small victory for " all things politically correct". At least everything you read is in Spanish too!

Answer 6

I can think of many reasons why. For so long the U.K. has been based on imperial weights and measurements and it is seen by many as still the standard. Probably though the biggest reason that roads are still marked in miles is cost. To change every single road marker in the country to kilometres would be incredibly expensive, and there are currently far more important thins that money has to be spent on.

Answer 7

I am all for metric. When I was at school I was asked to multiply 3 tons 5 hundredweight 7 stones 4 pounds by 17. Wow!

Answer 8

Our roads are still marked in miles because the government isn't following its own policies and making signs that would show both miles and kilometers during the transitional period (I'm in the USA).

The woman on that quiz show must have been just plain retarded.

Answer 9

In South Africa we went metric overnight. It was the best way - one day we were all in pounds and ounces and the next, kilogrammes and grammes. It took a while to get used to but we werent' confused because it was so clear cut.
Metric is much easier. It's those martyrs that spoil the show.

Answer 10

I don't buy that problem of the road sign costs. Those costs are minimal compared to the savings from more uniform global production standards and transportation standards. However, I wonder if a substantial number of American cars on the market don't even have km on their speedometer.