Try ordering a 113.3981-grammer burger at your local McDonald’s or Burger King. And then don’t be surprised when they don’t understand your order! That’s because the United States has not yet fully adopted the metric system. As a result, most U.S. citizens are not familiar with it.  We don’t measure our quarter-pound burgers in grams. We measure them in fractions of pounds.  In this example, one-quarter pound. That’s why we call that particular burger a “quarter-pounder.”

And that just might explain why the U.S. still isn’t on board with nationwide metrication. After all, “quarter-pounder” has much better marketing “zing” than does “113.3981-grammer.”  Moreover, in our colloquial-ridden American speech, it makes perfect sense to us.

We Are Not Alone in Imperial Measurements

Most people who grew up learning how to measure in ounces, pounds, yards, miles, gallons and Fahrenheit, liken the metric system to a hard-to-learn foreign language.  Most other countries around the world have transitioned from traditional units of measurement to the metric system.  This process began in France during the 1790s and continues to the present day.

In spite of that, however, the metric system has not been fully adopted in all countries, including the United States. As of 2021, the U.S., Myanmar and Liberia are the only countries that have not officially adopted metrics as the primary means of weights and measures.

The big question is, why?  Is it really all about being able to call our favorite burger a quarter-pounder?  Or are there other reasons why we are so resistant to metrication?

Our Imperial Life

The first thing we need to remember is that, here in the U.S., we are dug deep into our mega-ounce coffee cups and the number of gallons of gas it takes to fuel our vehicles.  While we use some metric measurements (e.g., one-liter soda bottles), most of our weights and measurements are still imperial (ounces, gallons, yard, miles, etc.).  And the longer that goes on, the more deeply attached we are to them.

Simply put, we’re in an imperial-measurement rut.  As nonsensical as imperial measures are, we have somehow or another managed to memorize that 12 inches equals one foot and 16 ounces equals one pound.  We’re not about to joyfully abandon all of that hard work!

Yet, on the positive side, the metric system is an easier way to go about standardizing measurements than the imperial system is. Here’s why:  Everything in the metric system divides into decimals (there are 10 millimeters in a centimeter, 1,000 grams in a kilogram, and so on). Inarguably, the metric system just makes sense. And that’s why almost all of the rest of the world uses it.

For example, water freezes at zero degrees Celsius (as opposed to the random 32 degrees Fahrenheit) and it boils at 100 C (instead of 212 F). As a result, the metric system doesn’t require us to memorize a lot of confounding temperature measurements.

At the same time, it’s mindboggling to think of just how many signs, instructions and other information would have to be changed if the U.S. were to seriously embark on metrication.

And, that just doesn’t make sense.

Aren’t We Officially Metricated?

The funny thing about this weights and measurements conundrum is that in 1975, the U.S. passed official legislation for metrication. Interestingly, conversion to the system was not mandatory, so many industries chose not to convert to it.

Almost twenty years later, on July 25, 1991, Executive Order 12770, otherwise known as the Metric Conversion Act, was signed by President George H.W. Bush. The order directed departments and agencies within the executive branch of the U.S. Government to take all appropriate measures within their authority to use the metric system as the preferred system of weights and measures for U.S. trade and commerce.

The executive order also authorized the Secretary of Commerce to form an Interagency Council on Metric Policy (ICMP), the purpose of which would have been to assist in the coordination of the Federal Government’s implementation of the order.

The problem is that, unlike other countries, in the U.S., there is no government-wide or major social desire to implement metrication.  It should come as no surprise, then, that the order was never carried out.  The best the U.S. has been able to achieve is a presentation of metric measurements alongside their imperial equivalents on things like measuring cups and soda bottles.

Hang onto your quarter-pounder, cooked to an optimal internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit.  The road to metrication is going to continue to be a bumpy ride here in the U.S.