Why do U S A people refuse celsius.?

Question

and refuse to accept metres litres kilometers etc.

Answer 1

I teach the metric system to my students since it is the measurement system used most frequently in science. The kids really like it because it's all based on the number 10 and they find it easy to grasp quickly. I tell my students that it's just an evil plot to confuse kids but we won't let that happen to us.

Seriously, though, I think there are two reasons we do not use the metric system in our country. The first, which has already been mentioned, is the huge cost involved in changing all the road signs, gas pumps, thermometers, and so on. The second is that people just don't like change. Even if the change is easier in the long run, we human beings would rather stay with the old and familiar rather than switch to something that's unfamiliar and therefore a little scary. It's human nature.

Answer 2

Personally, I refuse celsius because centigrade is perfectly descriptive of the themperature measurement system. Renaming it after the man who named it in the first place seems ludicrous.

I am 6'-0" tall, and have a 6'-0" armspan, fingertip to fingertip. That converts to 182.88 cm. 6 is a "perfect" number. It is the sum of it's factors. 183 has 2 facors, 3 and 61. 18 decameters is fairly nicely factorable, but misses describing my height by over an inch. A foot contains 12 inches.12 is divisible by 1,2,3, and 4.

The point is that the British system of measurements is well adapted to ergonomics, while the metric system is arbitrary, and is not well adpted to ergonomics. The Centigrade temperature scale is derived from the boiling point and freezing point of water, The Fahrenheit scale set the temperature of the human body at 100° and the believed freezing point of blood at 0°, again ergoomic. There are all sorts of units in the British system that are geared to common, everyday things, and yield sinple integers where the metric system yields a complex decimal. 60 mph is exactly 88 fps. There can be no corresponding conversion factor in the metric system because 3 was not included in reasoning out the system.

The average person worldwide could care less what the circumference of the Earth measured on the longitude that passes through Paris, France. The French peoople were so reluctant to adopt the system that forcing it on them became a part of the Reign of Terror., and imposing it on the rest of Western Europe was done by Napoleon. During that time the mutual distrust between Frande and the United States virtually guaranteed the failure of the US to adopt the system.

Believe me, scorn and coersion are not the way to go to get the US peoople to adopt an arbitrary system and throw out a system that works just fine for the most part.

Answer 3

This is actually much deeper than it seems and you have to understand the mindset of the people that made this country. Most other countries consist of indiginous peoples or colonists that wanted to take their culture with them to a new land.

The first significant settlers in the USA were religious pilgrims more interested in leaving Europe than "taking Europe with them." The American Revolution was a final act of deviance, throwing off the shackles and many cultural ties to Europe. This spirit has been handed down over many generations. Until the First World War, the USA was very isolationist, and England was an unlikely ally until fears of German aggression forced the USA to side with the Allies.

Isolationism has been and still is a major force in American culture and politics. Since the USA (at least at one time) held the lead in mass media (radio, TV, film), manufacturing, and technology, there was no need to be concerned with the rest of the world and how they do things.

Consider also, that during WWII, there was no significant destruction of American industry and infrastructure, but much of Europe and Asia had to rebuild industry from the ground up. Europe and Asia had the opportunity to start from scratch without the burden of "the way things are."

To this day, this sense of isolationism still persists. Urban populations with a history of recent immigration (such as New England) may have an interest in world news and following global trends, but the bulk of American manufacturing takes place in the American mid-west, which has seen the least number of recent immigrants, and most mid-westerners can trace their American heritage back several generations.

To this day, the USA uses it's own set of national standards, such as ANSI, NEMA, and UL while the rest of the world now follows ISO (International Standards Organization) and the Internation System of Measures (SI, or metric).

The cost of retooling and re-education is often the most quoted excuse not to switch, but Canada made the change to the metric system, and now has the burden of satisfying international standards and US standards (since the USA is Canada's primary trading partner).

So, why can Canada, and the rest of the world adopt international standards? Because, unlike the USA, these countries have always sought to connect with the rest of the outside world, but the USA tends to be a little more "introverted." Some of this is changing, but slowly, and more due to outsourcing manufacturing jobs than to any particular interest in what the rest of the world is doing.

To get a real idea of the different perspective between US culture and world culture, just watch the evening news for a week in a European country, then watch the evening news in the USA for a week. You'll see what I mean.

Answer 4

We have accepted Farenheit, feet, ounces and miles as our standard unit, so switching would be a lot of work. Lots of people call the US stupid for adopting that system, but it should be noted that it is called the Imperial system because it was invented in England (read: It's not the US's fault...).

Answer 5

Because no matter how much simpler the metric system is, it does not change because no one wants the bother of changing over. However, we do use metric for some things, like product nutrition facts (grams), and soda bottles (liters).

Answer 6

Because no one here in Southern California wants to think it's
25.555555555555557 degrees Celsius when it is 78 degrees Fahrenheit.

Answer 7

These things have a lot of inertia. Particularly where the change involves the cost of physical changes, like in signage and screw threads. We are changing over very slowly.

Answer 8

We are really not interested in becoming a world community , as we have a country, and we don't use Celsius

Answer 9

all the tools, the signs, and everything is in standard, switching over to metric would be a significant cost,
not to mention confusion to all the adults who have been using it their entire life.

Answer 10

Because it's our system. it works so well and we like it.
Americans contrary to what you have been told use both systems . Our thermoters list both celsius and degrees
Ours is as accurate as yours:):)>