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Originally Posted by jamesqf
Not really, because at least the random names stay the same. A lot of them, like for instance foot or mile (from the Latin for "a thousand paces") have reasonable meanings, or come in handy sizes. Then there's the metric fashion for naming units after people. What could be less rational than that?
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If a unit is named after someone, then that someone most likely had something to do with that unit or that field in general. This can help kids on their science class tests. Whether a unit is named after someone or not, you just have to remember it. In the metric system you have 1 unit of mass (gram), for length you have 1 unit (meter). The unit of volume, liter, is defined as (0.1meter)^3. Everything else is just scaled from these base units. Tonnes are just 1 million grams. I admit that prefixes such as kilo-, centi-, milli-, etc. take getting used to if you don't know any Greek. They only change the order of magnitude.
According to Wikipedia in the US system, there are more names to remember.
(1) Weight - grains, ounces, pounds, tons. The latter can be long tons (2240lbs.) or short tons (2000lbs.). Ounces can be Troy (just over 31.1 grams) or avoirdupois (28.35 grams). In fact, since 1958 the avoirdupoisounce is defined using the metric system!!
(2) Length - inchs, feet, miles. Feet and miles come in the normal and survey variety. Miles can also be nautical.
(3) Volume - ounce, cup, pint, quart, gallon, beer barrel and oil barrel. Here you must be careful, since the same name represents something different depending on whether it is dry or liquid volume.
Now comes the fun part: try to quickly convert not from metric to US, but from one US measure to another. How many pints is 2.3 gallons? How many inches are in 1.7 miles? In the metric system the differences between unit names are only a few orders of magnitude. Metric is what it is
because a kilogram is not 872 grams, or 54 centimeters being 1 meter and 1145 meters being a kilometer. When I say that US measures have "random" values, this is what I mean. It's so much easier to get lost in the US units. What do I mean when I say I need 8 ounces of suger? Halfpound, or halfpint? This contradicts your saying that the name stays the same.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesqf
Then there's the whole tens thing, when for many purposes - packaging being a prime example - 12 is a lot handier. How would you package a 5-pack of beer, for instance?
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This depends on what is being packaged. Eggs can be packed in dozens (12) or 18 in the US, here we have 6, 10, or 15, but you can buy 1 if you want. 12 is a number which just loves to be divided, that's why the Mesopotamians counted in base-12 or base-60, and thats why it's the base of our time system. The only 5-packs I've seen were 4+1free, but I would imagine a hexagonal 7-pack of beer or other cans or bottles might be quite efficient from the materials and transport point of view.