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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TwinBahamut" data-source="post: 4166872" data-attributes="member: 32536">Well, to be honest, it was far from being a proper reductio ad absurdum (since it was not at all a logical derivation from my points, but instead more of a deliberately obtuse misinterpretation of my points), but thanks for the apology. Also, I am sorry if I was a bit insulting in my reply.Well, as I and other people have said in this thread, shifting decimal places is not necessarily a huge advantage. People don't think in decimal numbers (I believe the human mind most quickly processes numbers of five and less), and most of the benefits of using terms like hectometer are completely trumped by the simplicity of using "a hundred meters", something that can be done regardless of it being the metric system or not. Meanwhile, using different measurements for different things does have a use, such as using light years for large distances of space, or even just years for measuring lengths of time (note that the unit "year" is traditional, and completely non-metric, yet clearly has value).Well, in that case, I don't really accept that Derren's argument is a good argument that metric is superior to traditional units. It is a perfectly fine argument for changing the kinds of units in use in the modern day, but not an argument for switching to metric.Let me clarify a little...In the US, you will often see someone compare the size of something large to the size of an American Football field, a rectangular area that is 360 feet on one side and 160 feet on the other side, for a total area of 57,600 square feet. Alternatively, sometimes it is used as measure of length of 100 yards (the length between the two endzones). The analogy between the size of the football field (which is commonly understood by many Americans), and the floor area of large buildings or open spaces, is so common that it might very well be slowly worming its way into being a proper unit of measure in of itself.To cite something even more clear... If you get the time, you should take a look at the units used in modern cargo transportation, related to standardized containers. These units, such as the TEU, are neither metric units, nor traditional units, but are instead custom-built units in the same vein as older units like the acre. These units are absolutely essential to modern globalization, commerce, and ship-building, but their origin is almost impossible to differentiate from the origin of units like the acre. Both the TEU and the acre are units created to facilitate the economic realities of their time. Certainly, I think you would be hard pressed to argue that shipping companies would be better off using liters as their unit of measure rather than the units they currently use.</blockquote>

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