Many people in the UK (and obviously the USA) are clearly incensed with the idea of this new fangled system of measurement being imposed on them. Many cite tin-pot beaurocrats in the European Union as being to blame, others just complain that they should be given a choice and that in any case they aren't clever enough to undestand it and won't even try. One ploy in the USA during the cold war was to cite the Russians... using a different system of measurements could foil a potential invasion because they would be confused by the road signs!

Yes, people have a right to their views and yes some people are worried about change, but so long as change isn't for the sake of change then it can sometimes be a good thing. All that is needed is for understanding of the real reasons for the need to change and for answers to the questions that nobody is answering (at least not properly anyway!)

Let's take a look at some of the things that people say against us going metric.

The European Union is forcing us to go metric.

This is a the sort of lie that the British tabloid press likes to print to sell what they call "newspapers". Attempts to go metric started in 1790, over 180 years before we joined the then EEC and well before that institution even existed. Even more recent attempts actually started in the 1960's at around the same time as it was decided to decimalise our currency.

Decimalisation was really no different in that we stopped using an old system of measurement (money in this case) with something based on a system used by the rest of the world.

Update: It seems that the EU have decided that the UK can continue to use Imperial as supplementary indications and pints and miles may be allowed to remain indefinitely. It's clear that as a country we can't keep our promises... and that's probably ok for the rest of the EU who will continue to benefit from a population who can both live and work with a single system of measures. 

If we must use metric, why can't we continue to use both and let people decide which to use?

This is a very good question... but probably the root of the problems with have today. In some cases it is a legal requirement to use metric only. In some you can only use imperial. In a few cases you can use metric but only if you show imperial too and in others you have to use metric and can show imperial if you want to. This hotch-potch of rules doesn't help us learn to live with a new system, instead it confuses and angers people.

Consider what would have happened back in the early 1970's if, along with decimal currency, we had continued to produce shilling coins and allowed businesses to trade using these units. If this had continued for 20-30 years after decimalisation we would still by now be going to the supermarket and seeing tins of Baked Beans being sold for 50 new pence in some cases or 10 shillings in others. Old money would have a hard-core following stating "We must return to the old system because the new one confuses people". The government of the day would not want to force us to use the new money, thinking that public opinion would be against them. Businesses and consumers would have to bear the cost of having to convert between the two and money would be wasted educating our children to use the two.

This is precisely what has happened with metrication in the UK!!!

Imperial units are British. We don't need to use a foreign system of measurement!

Until recently it was thought that the metric system was a French invention... but it has been found that the "Universal STandard" as it was originally called was actually invented by an Englishman. John Wilkins, born in the 1600's in a village not far from Daventry, Northamptonshire, published a book in 1668 which discussed simplified systems of decimal currency and measurement... the latter of which included details of a length of measure which has been found to have been within a few mm of a metre. This system was apparently used by an Italian scientist about 20 years later, known by it's Italian translation as "Metrico Catholico" which many years later, on it's adoption in France, was translated simply into "Metric".

Since then, many Brits have been involved in the evolution of the metric system.  For instance the Kelvin scale used to measure temperature and the Watt used to measure electricity - both are named after British scientists. British engineering was also used to manufacture the standard kg weight which for many years was used as the definitive standard.

It's clear from the adoption of the metric system worldwide that John Wilkins had the right idea - it's only a shame that his own countrymen seem to be about the only people on the planet who seem to refuse to see the advantages of such a simple system.

Instead, we continue to use a system of measures which was imposed on us by the Romans, a system which contains many names derived from their French equivalents (for instance "avoirdupois" which is itself is a derivitive of the old-French term "aveir de peis" meaning "goods of weight") or even a system of temperature measurement which is German (Fahrenheit).

The USA use imperial measurements and they're not changing to metric!

There are two responses to this comment.

First of all, the USA don't use "imperial units", instead they use "english units" which are completely different to those used in England. Ok, so lengths and distances are the same so whether it be an inch, a foot or a mile, they are the same on both sides of the Atlantic. However if you were to compare a British pint, quart or gallon with the "english" equivalent used in the USA you would find they are totally different. And although pounds and ounces are the same, the ton differs too. Also consider that wherever you are there is a difference between an oz and a fluid oz, and a mile is not the same as a nautical mile. Also, Americans don't use "stones" for weights and you will hardly ever see "yards" on a road sign!

It's also not true that the USA aren't converting to metric. Many parts of US industry have made this change voluntarily, some because it is a simpler and more logical system to use, others because the need to trade with metric countries means it often makes more sense financially to use the same units as your major buyers. The fact you can walk into a gas station or supermarket and buy a "0.5 liter" bottle of Coca Cola or mineral water really does prove that something is happening!

The simple fact of the matter is that the vast majority of the people on planet Earth use metric. We don't do other things that the Americans tell us... so why do we use this as an excuse to not go metric?

Imperial units are more "natural" than metric and better fit the "human experience"

So perhaps this is true in many respects. I recently read the story of a chap called Fahrenheit who devised his scale by measuring the freezing point of water and the normal human body temperature and then devised a scale that would fit between the two; the figures used for either end were 32 and 96. This in itself sounds ok, but then the guy who wrote this went on to talk about being stranded on a desert island and being able to recreate this method and make your own thermometer... as if you'd want to! Metric is similar to this except that it uses a simple source... the freezing AND boiling points of the same substance, water, and split that into 100 units. Just as simple, but the units and the numbers a lot easier to remember.

The whole Imperial system was based on similar observations of nature and as such has served us well for many hundreds of years (at least when you can get two people to agree how heavy a grain of corn is... or when measuring a horse, who's "hand" should be the definitive measure). The metric system has a similar connections though... the fact that 1000 litre of water will weigh 1000kg (or 1 tonne) and would take up 1 cubic metre of space (that's a box of 1m x 1m x 1m). How much more simple than that can you get?

In reality though it doesn't really matter how the units are derived. It is how easy it is to use and understand them that is important and whether you are a human or a computer system it is much easier to think in base 10 than it is to have to remember if you should be working in 8ths, 16ths, 14ths, quarters depending on whether you are measuring distance, weight or volume!

Manufacturers will use metrication as an excuse to increase prices.

This is a sad but true side effect of any "change", particularly when the change is being made gradually and at a pace that is allowed by public opinion. Take conversion to the Euro as an example; tabloid newspapers are quick to print stories of complaints by many Europeans that when they switched to the Euro, many prices went up. What the tabloids didn't print however was that because the changeover was short and controlled that it was possible to make it illegal to use the changeover to hide a price increase. If metrication had been quick too then this would have probably have been the case with that too, however because it is taking so long to convert... and because the laws regarding the change are so "flexible", it means that unscrupulous manufacturers can get away with it, and that even when the change isn't due to metrication the tabloids can get away with telling us it is anyway, blaming increased costs because of the changeover!

Many British people, particularly older people will find it hard to switch to metric.

This is complete rubbish! These same people managed to decimalise in the 1970's and the old people of countries such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have survived. There is no reason to believe that because you're older, British, or a combination of the two, that you are any less intelligent than your counterparts in other countries. In fact I feel insulted at the thought that my countrymen are thought to be somehow stupid compared to the rest of the world!

Most people given the chance and the right information will probably be able to switch quite easily. How many people for instance would be able to readily tell the difference if shown a 2lb bag of sugar or a 1kg bag? Or the difference between 1 pint and half a litre of water? Or a 1 metre lenght of wood and 1 yard? Ok, so there is a difference but in everyday life the difference is such that one might not readily notice unless told. Many other metric countries still use their equivalent of the word "pint" to refer to half a litre and this should not be an issue so long as we know that this is the case!

Converting things such as road signs might be dangerous.

Oh dear, what a terrible thought! Hundreds, if not thousands of drivers could be injured or killed because they can't tell the difference between 400 yards to roadworks and 400 metres. Well, look at Australia, New Zealand and Canada in the 1970's and 1980's. Look at Ireland in February 2005. We heard no reports of carnage on the roads or hospitals being swamped with road traffic accidents. Why? Because the general public were told what was happening in advance, were educated through newspaper and magazine adverts, television commercials and the like. This actually makes us the only country on the planet (except for the USA) which does not use metric for distances and speeds on our road signs (and the USA even does that in some places!).

In fact, not using metric could be a danger in itself. More and more people from the UK are driving on European roads now than ever before, and on the flip side we're seeing more and more European drivers on British roads. Owner's Handbooks of most British cars show the weight and size of our cars in metric only, and while weight limits are mostly shown in metric tonnes, it is still more usual to see width and height limits shown in feet and inches, meaning at the very least we have to think about converting these figures depending on where we are driving and how things are signposted. Far fewer foreign registered (and many British registered!) goods vehicles would get stuck under low bridges if the signs were in metres instead of feet and inches!

Why can't we just use what we're used to?

One important factor here is safety. Consider the NASA probe that crashed into Mars a few years back. One engineering team worked in metric, the other in feet and inches, the result... the on board computer which did not know the difference did exactly as it was told, not what was intended by the programmers! Ok, so all this did was cost a lot of money... but consider medicine. So your temperature might have gone up by a couple of degrees and in farenheit this might not be an issue but in Celsius it would be a major issue! The same might be the case if a doctor prescribed medicine in fluid ounces but it was administered in grams! The only way to prevent this sort of mistake is to ensure we use the same system wherever we are. How many of us work in situations where we must use metric (medicine, engineering, shipping, building, retail, etc) but when asked give our height in feet and our weight in stones? If we're not encouraged to change and we don't make an effort then mistakes will continue to happen!

Metrication will cost a lot of money.

Absolutely right! And until we finish the job it will continue to cost money. The millions spent every year educating our children about metres and kilometers when they are sent out into a yard and mile road network. The money spent equipping British cars with MPH speedometers when the rest of Europe (including Ireland!!!) have km/h only. The money spent on making pint bottles for milkmen and litre cartons for the supermarkets. The HGV drivers who look at their km/h only speedometers and have to know what the equivalent MPH speed limit is. The engineer who plans and builds a new bypass in metric but then has to convert to miles to put up the road signs. I could go on and on like this.

Compare this. The cost of drawing up laws and setting a date for "K Day" when the use of imperial measures would become illegal. Producing advertising campaigns for press, radio and television to educate and inform the public. Making and installing new road signs in time for the changeover... and then after that, nothing. A lot of the work has already been done. Industry and government already use metric almost exclusively but just convert on a daily basis for "public consumption" so in the mid to long term this option costs far less... and once it is done we will all wonder what the fuss is about!

Update: I've read recently that when the Canadians converted their roads that at least one province managed to convert most of their road signs without any additional budget allocation! 

We'll have to change the way we speak!

Give them an inch and they'll take a mile eh? See, even somebody who's pro-metric can use such a term without feeling bad. I think we all know that "Give him a cm and he'll take a km" or "he missed by a kilometer" don't roll off the tounge and they don't have to. Language evolves and as people get used to using the metric system new phrases will surface and old ones will disapear. In many European languages the word for "pound" is still used, often to describe half a kilo (which is approximatly 1lb!!!) and so long as we all expect that to be the case, we'll get along with it very well! 

After all, older people still use words such as "bob" when refering to money!