[RedDevil]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

Which has been the most economically successful country since the invention of the metric system? Why has just about every major country that adopted the metric system gone downhill after doing so? While those that haven't gone downhill pretty much make their money selling stuff to the non-metric country? And why do those countries adopt the language, currency, and a lot of the culture of the non-metric country?

China, obviously.
Although their meteoric growth only happened after they dropped their own system of measurement for the metric system.

It is quite something to attribute the rise of the USA to the measurement system.
I believe those two world wars that destroyed most of the infrastructure in Europe and Asia, twice over, had more to do with that.

That English is now a dominant language has 4 reasons, in my belief:
- Despite some of the quirks, it is a relatively simple language with no 'gender' bending of words, simple rules for past/present forms of verbs, most verbs only have a different form when used with he/she and even that is pretty much standard.
It is a hard language to master fully, but easy to get started with.
- War again; when Napoleon conquered most of the European mainland it gave the British a free hand at sea, allowing them to establish a global empire that lasted till after the second world war.
- Computer technology for the masses from Silicon Valley gained critical mass in the late 70's and swept the competition, making English mandatory for anyone involved in information technology.
Most countries acknowledged that and made teaching English a priority.
- Music (the Beatles!) and Hollywood.