it’s another form
of yankee isolationism
how we carry our cups, ounces,
gallons, pounds, feet
inches, degrees Fahrenheit,
miles
so deeply in our DNA
we teach children
complex conversions
to that other system
so they can talk scale
with the rest of the world
except for those
slippery scientists
who shifted sides
long ago
to those more standard
measurements
of course, those
track and field events
and charity walks
always sound so much better
in Ks than miles
but to admit that
is to be somehow
yet again
un-American
as if standing tall
is easier to do in feet and inches
than centimeters
even though
those numbers
are bigger
and we would feel lighter
as a nation
if we weighed ourselves
in kilos
not pounds
Susan Daniels Poetry 
hmmm … something to think about !!!
🙂 just another of those little quirks.
I love how you’ve ‘weighed in” on our American-ness ! We think so ‘highly’ of ourselves…but that’s just how we roll out the measuring tape. 🙂
(knew you’d do it and you did it quick!)
🙂 I do MUCH prefer my weight in kilos and my height in cm 🙂
well hell, of course. me too…and show me a woman who doesn’t.
🙂
You are on a roll as always today. Like this very much
Thanks, Boomie–had fun with this one 🙂
I have nominated you for an award please pop by http://paulaacton.wordpress.com/2012/08/12/so-its-sunday/ and collect it when you get chance
Will do–and thank you!
I still bake in ounces when i make bunsand cakes from family recipes rather than books lol for weight here in UK we use stones and pounds and feet and inches for height not a flattering combination
😀
If you think you have it bad you should try living here in the Great Britain!!! I am a child of the 70s and we were taught both systems at school so instead of being proficient on one, I am useless at both. If it’s any consolation I have spent the whole of the Olympics working out the longer distances into miles (who on earth wants to ride 100km? Surely 60 miles is shorter….). I can’t visualise how high the high jumpers jump when they say 1.54 metres, but if they tell me it’s the height of the average door then I know it’s about 8 feet. Crazy!
Oh–I am a child of the 70s too–taught both systems because we were supposed to switch, and then somehow we did not. I use conversions all the time for work, and they are a HUGE PAIN.
I agree! I know the metric system much better by instinct and can measure out ounces and pints and miles etc much easier than millimeters and grams. I HATE the metric system. Give me a pound of sugar any day, you can keep your half a kilo of it!!!
…I still do prefer my weight in kilos, though 🙂
Very interesting thoughts here
Actually I had a thought, if I weighed myself in pounds i would have minus 20 squids 🙂
LOL, love it!
we have similar issues in the uk – i have to say though 15 cm sound more impressive than 6 inches 😉
hmmm. Depends on what we are measuring 😉
Sitting on the metric side of the border this makes me smile. After six years I feel like I can think in Celsius and even do a little measuring in centimeters and kilometers. But when they say we’re going to get 40 mm of rain all I can think of is a little drip of some strangely colo(u)red liquid at the bottom of a beaker in chemistry class. And I still don’t know my own weight in kg.
🙂 it is the switching back and forth between the use in medicine and my daily life that sometimes leaves me scratching my head 🙂
Nice commentary. In most of my novel writing I go metric. Only the one I work now runs counter to this preference.
🙂
Metric makes more sense to me, and easier to “talk” to the rest of the world that way.
This is very very good! LOVE your blog, your poetry and your heart and vision!
Deb–you are so very, very sweet–thank you!
i still think in inches and pounds and yards, despite the best efforts of my kids
Yay!