Unit conversion plays an important part in our every day lives. Just because a group of people decide to “standardize” on particular units does not mean they will necessarily succeed. Not everyone uses the same language or same protocol and so why should we expect that everyone will be using the same units of measurement in the future.
However, some of us grow up in a certain part of the world and are familiar with certain units of measurement but these could be alien to others in different locations in the world. If you recently grew up in the United States you would be familiar with the mile as a measure of distance and could probably imagine how long a mile is. If you were brought up in France, you would probably be familiar with the kilometer.
Strangely, the way that the metric distance unit of a METER is also spelt differently depending on your background. Some spell it “meter” and others spell it “metre” .
Many have tried to make the metric system as the official system of measurement around the world, however the United States does not follow this system. Even though the United Kingdom is officially Metric – the traffic system is still using miles and yards. There are many examples that could be discussed and many might have to do with tradition and culture, even sports culture. For example in horseracing, the height of the horse is measured in “hands” e.g. that horse is 15 hands high! |
