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Message: <blockquote data-quote="lutecius" data-source="post: 4165882" data-attributes="member: 60332">Your previous point was about human measurement, that most of the time involves both feet and inches. Which is unpractical even for simple calculations, I am not talking about rocket science. And I reckon the Brits still use both stones and pounds for weight (but hey, they can't even drive on the right side of the road <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />).Your other point was about the advantages of evenly dividing gallons into halves or quarters without measurement. My answer was that if for some reason you wanted to do that with litres, it was just as simple. You don't need an official quarter-litre (TM) unit. You just call it a quarter litre. If you want precise measures like decilitres, you need more precise tools, same for gallons. They could have, but they would have had to pick one and run with it. Kilo-feet and such would be ok, miles/yards/feet/inches are a nightmare.The metric system is not completely arbitrary though, they chose water as a convenient basis for mass and temperature (freezes at 0°C, boils at 100°C) and the dimensions of the Earth for distances. I guess they just decided that using the same units for science and everyday life was more consistent.I am not sure I understand what you mean. What is the kilogram/gram problem?Is it about having to move the decimal point?Traditional, sort of, functional I don’t think so. The thing is, I never had to plow a field with an ox, nor had to feed a normal family with cups of sugar.As for the booze, with all the variables involved, cups and pints aren't much more telling than glasses or bottles. And I find it quite unpractical to walk on walls and furnitures to take measurements, and very bad form when it comes to people so i use a tape most of the time.On the other hand, I used to work in an aquarium store and did appreciate being able to estimate the weight of a full tank without the headache part. So, different experiences... Because "someone who thought he knew better" decided that the various traditional measures used in specific and local contexts weren't workable outside of said context.At some point they realized they couldn't use weight units based on Ol'Dick's cow for international trade anymore because it was long dead, and that Mistress Abigail's saucepans wouldn't convert nicely into Shri Rajani's saucepans. Sadly, they both had to learn to think in Imperial saucepans, no matter how counterintuitive and arbitrary it was for them. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown    :("  data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" /></blockquote>

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