I'm going to call it the American Standard as our English brothers have
at least adopted metric in spirit if not most things. I guess they still
cling to the stones, hands and a few others.
I guess I'm too old to change, even 30 years ago I still thought in
yards instead of meters and it probably saved the lives of a few VC when
calling for fire. You called them in 100s of meters and measured it in
your mind in football fields.
When I was in basic one Saturday we had a parade. At the beginning they
called all of the first sgt.s forward. Ours, the meanest SOB you ever
saw, marched forward with the rest of them. As he was the only one out
of step among the 15 or so he did the only thing he could do, he started
calling cadence. Believe it or not the other guys had to change step.
We may be out of step on this metric thing but, I believe, our economy
may cause a few to change their step, or at least recognize both for a
long while.
As to how the people feel, last year in Alabama when the Governor heard
that the roads were being marked with metric signs, he gave the road
dept 24 hours to get them down. I doubt if any other issue got any
quicker action (no Alabama jokes, after all they are the Heart of
Dixie).
Wasn't the metric system a result of the French Revolution, or
popularized during it. We know how that turned out. Can you believe
trying to tear down a McDonalds.
Bob
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