I'm not a good little american

Thursday August 23rd 2007 11:29 PM PST

I think i'm going to start a regular entry explaining one reason I don't think I'm a good American.

Today's reason:

I regularly use metric. I find myself thinking in metric while driving.

I even tried to get my wife to convert to metric when she's feeding Paige. Milliliters just make so much more sense. She wouldn't have any of it...

The best single instance was when we were in Hawaii last. Jen and I were on a hike above the Seven Pools on Maui. We hiked to a waterfall and were on our way back down the path. We pass a few people on their way up, and they ask us how much further it is to the top. I say, "about 100 meters". The guy passing us says, "well how far is that?" (with a little bit of a pissed off tone in his voice). I respond, "Sorry, its about 110 yards" to which now he gives me this puzzled look as if to say... but how?... what?.... huh?... how do you know that? I could tell in that split second he thought i was NOT American, but he couldn't figure it out cause I spoke with no other accent that just the craptastic southern californian drawl. long pause... "Oh, thanks."

Comments:

The sad part is that yards is a relatively commonly used metric in the US (Football anyone?). I think most folks from around these parts use simply miles or pounds...and that's it. Try asking someone how many ounces are in a pound and (if they're not a heavy drug user) I doubt they'll be able to tell you; same with cups, quarts and gallons. Pretty sad, really.
But I agree, the metric system is EASY as hell. Silly us for not using it (and being one of like 3 countries in the world who don't).

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