Ten (devious and dishonest) ways to delay metrication
Pat Naughtin
Most people don't have any idea how measurement methods work and they don't know how long people have fought for honest and reliable measuring methods.
Most people just do not know how to judge the merits of any of the thousands of old measuring methods let alone the modern metric system. The sad part is that they are often prepared to support old measuring practices that were specifically selected to delude, to cheat, and to obfuscate.
When some people first confront the metric system they feel that it might cause them personally to make changes in their lives. And they definitely do not like this idea, at all.
Using gut feelings as the basis for action they will do whatever they feel is necessary to keep the status quo for as long as possible. Here are some of the techniques that I have observed to delay the inevitable upgrade to the full use of the metric system.
Summary
- Encourage confusion; do not let anyone know that the metric system is simple.
- Avoid SMAART goals (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timed)
- Remember that illusions are better than reality to delay metrication.
- Encourage jargon as much as you can. Jargon always confuses people.
- Complicate the metric system by using the prefixes: hecto, deca, deci, and centi.
- The metric system is so simple, that you should always aim for as much complexity as you can.
- Pretend that the old random collections of measures were 'systems'.
- Discourage the use of metric 'Rules of thumb'.
- Predict unrealistic timeframes for your metrication program.
- 'Why can't we wait till all the old people die before we change to metric?'
1 Don't tell anyone that the metric system is simple
The modern metric system, now formally called the International System of Units (SI), was developed from several older metric systems and at each development it was made even simpler. To delay the introduction of SI, never let people know about the simplicity of the metric system.
Under no circumstances should you allow people to find out that the metric system is simple. Do not let anyone know that almost all people around the world successfully go through the whole of their life knowing only ten metric measuring units:
These ten metric system units are enough to do all of the things that people do with their lives from the day they are born (measured in grams) to the day they die (measured in kilograms). Do not let your family or your friends know that the metric system is this easy. Encourage them to 'do the hard yards' ... and the hard feet, and the hard inches, and the hard fractions of yards and feet, and inches, and furlongs, and chains, and miles ... millimetres, metres, and kilometres for length;
grams, kilograms, and tonnes for mass;
millilitres, litres, and cubic metres for volume or capacity; and
square metres for area.
Imply, but never state, that the metric system is 'just another measuring method'. Suggest, but never state, that the metric system is 'just as complex as old measures'. For example, do not let anyone ever know that a single unit metre (adjusted for size with prefixes) has replaced all of the old ways for measuring lengths. This means that:
millimetres, metres, and kilometres have replaced all of these and many others:
air miles, angstrom units, astronomical units, cables, chains, computer picas, computer points, drill numbers, European shoe sizes, fathoms, fermis, furlongs, geometrical paces, hands, inches, international feet, international miles, light minutes, light seconds, light years, links, microinches, microns, mils, military paces, nautical miles, parsecs, poles, perches, printers' picas, printers' points, rods, screw numbers, shotgun gauges, UK shoe sizes, US shoe sizes, US survey feet, US survey miles, standard plate gauges, vinyl gauges, wire gauges, yards ...
A good way to keep the secret about the simplicity of the metric system is to encourage the use of the old (redundant) metric units as much as you can; this makes 'metric' measures seem much more complicated. You should encourage the use of a selection from these pre-SI metric units: atmospheres, calories, Calories, carats, curies, dynes, ergs, fermis, gals, gammas, gausses, janskys, kilocalories, kilogram calories, light years, maxwells, microns, mmHg, oersteds, parsecs, phots, poises, rads, rems, rφntgens, stilbs, stokes, torrs, and X units.
You should also encourage the use of mongrel units, those that are partly metric and partly pre-metric units; in this regard, kilowatt-hours (kW.hrs) are good, as are milligrams per gallon and kiloyards.
Remember your aim is to encourage confusion; so do not let anyone ever know that the modern metric system is simple.
2 Don't set definite goals
Say things like 'let's change to metric' without setting any definite goals or timelines. Avoid statements like:
Our manufacturing group will use metric units exclusively from 2010-10-10. Metric units are defined as the units that are modelled on the units contained in Tables 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 in the Bureau International de Poids et Mesures (BIPM) brochure 'The International System of Units'; however, the prefixes hecto, deca, deci, and centi will not be used. Copies of 'The International System of Units' are freely available to download from www.bipm.frOr:
The science and engineering departments of this institution will use SI units exclusively from 2010-10-10. SI is defined as the units that are modelled on those contained in the Bureau International de Poids et Mesures (BIPM) document 'The International System of Units' in Tables 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8; however, the prefixes hecto, deca, deci, and centi will not be used. Copies of 'The International System of Units' are freely available to download from www.bipm.frRemember to avoid goals that are SMAART:
SMAART stands for Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timed.
SMAART goals are very likely to achieve metrication smoothly and rapidly. Use the article at http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/SettingSMAARTmetricationGoals.pdf to give you a solid starting point for your goal setting.
3 Decimalise old units
Redesign your old units or products to give an illusion of progress. One of the easiest ways to do this is to change your old fractional numbers into decimals. For example, if you have a product that is 1 3/8" call it 1.375, 1 foot 5 inches becomes 1.416666666666 (recurring), and so on.
Canadian paper manufacturers took the lead here, when they introduced the P series of paper sizes, as they had no desire to change to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) paper sizes. They wanted to create the illusion that although most of the world used ISO sizes, the Canadians could match them with their P series. In this way, the only change the Canadian paper manufacturers had to make was to add the P designations to their price lists. Canadian paper sizes are the sizes most commonly used in the USA.
By the way, the ISO A series and B series of paper sizes are designed to be rational, to be simple-to-use, and to save enormous amounts of waste paper; the Canadian paper manufacturers P designation does not share these properties; the P-series is irrational, difficult to use, and it wastes enormous amounts of waste paper.
Remember that illusions are better than reality to delay metrication.
4 Encourage the use of jargon
Wherever possible, encourage small groups of people (professionals?) to develop their own jargon and to use this jargon exclusively when they try to communicate with the rest of us. For example, astronomers should use parsecs and Light Years, jewellers should be encouraged to advertise and sell their gems using carats rather than milligrams; chemists should continue to use teaspoons, parts per million, and parts per trillion, nuclear scientists should use barns as a unit of area rather than square femtometres; textile workers should be encouraged to use microns rather than micrometres and tex rather than milligrams per metre; physicians and pharmacists should continue to use U to mean any old unit; and the non-existent barrels that have never actually existed should be encouraged in the oil industry.
The obfuscation possible with jargon is profound and, unlike using SI, cannot, in any way, lead to dealings with the public that are open and honest. You could even have some legislation organised to encourage jargon and so legally confuse the whole issue of measurement. For example, make it legally possible to sell gold using the old Troy ounces as well as grams and kilograms; encourage the legality of pints of beer (as they do in England) at the same time as you legalise millilitres of spirits.
Remember that jargon always confuses people. Encourage it as much as you can.
5 Use centigrams, decilitres, and hectometres
Experience in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa has clearly shown that metrication can be smooth and rapid if you avoid the use of the prefixes hecto, deca, deci, and centi. Experience also showed that using these prefixes can delay metrication dramatically. The Australian building trades were very clear about the use of these prefixes when they wrote their metrication policy:
The metric units for linear measurement in building and construction will be the metre (m) and the millimetre (mm), with the kilometre (km) being used where required. This will apply to all sectors of the industry, and the centimetre (cm) shall not be used.' and 'The centimetre should not be used in any calculation and it should never be written down.The net result was a very rapid and smooth metrication program.
As an alternate example, the Australian textile and clothing industries chose to use centimetres. They are still working on their conversion after forty years (so far) of metrication.
It is not well understood why this dramatic delay happens, but it is clearly true. It probably has something to do with the complete lack of fractions in the technique used by builders they are not fiddling with fractions, dithering with decimals, or confused by conversions like the textile workers. Builders need only use whole numbers they do not use common or vulgar fractions, they have no need to use decimal fractions, and they do not do metric conversions at all.
Those of us who watched these changes sometimes claim that it takes about 50 days to change to metric using millimetres and (at least) 50 years using centimetres.
You should also allow, even encourage, people to use units like centilitres, hectolitres, and decagrams, so that the public might gain the illusion that the metric system is frighteningly complicated.
Remember to complicate the metric system by encouraging the metric prefixes that practical and professional people rarely use. The prefixes to encourage are: hecto, deca (deka in the USA), deci, and centi.
6 Misuse SI whenever you can
When you are finally forced to use metric measures, do not use the standard SI symbols. The short forms for the metric system units, such as mm for millimetre, are called SI symbols. These symbols are all agreed by international treaty they are not abbreviations and there is only one correct symbol for each measuring unit.
Using the correct symbols makes metrication too quick and easy. It will be much slower if you make up your own abbreviations for the official SI unit names (see http://www.bipm.fr for the correct ones to avoid).
For example, the common unit in the metric system for length is metre, and the lower case letter m is its universally recognised symbol. Both of these m for metre and m for metres are correct; examples are 1 m for one metre and 2 m for two metres. To delay SI use one of these instead: M, Mt, MT, Mt., MT., Mtr, Mtr., Mtrs., mr, mr., me, m., ms, ms., mt, mt., mts, mts., mtr, mtr., mtrs, mtrs., or my personal favourite Mtres.
Under no circumstances should you use the SI standard lower case m for metre or m for metres that is too easy and too quick. Try not to let the public learn about the correct SI symbols and their ultimate simplicity. If you can persuade people to stay stuck in an abbreviation mind-set, they may never see the beauty and the simplicity of the SI symbols for the rest of their lives.
Here is a start on mass units for you. Avoid the correct symbol kg for kilogram and kg for kilograms. Use one of these: Kg, kay-grams, KG, Kilo, KGs, kay, kilo, kgram, k-grams, kilos, kaygees, Kilos, k, kays, Kgs, K, or KGS.
Coincidentally, make sure you refer to mass as if it were weight as often as you can. You have probably seen astronauts floating in their spacecraft when they feel weightless yet clearly they have lost none of their mass; they are still all there! Although Isaac Newton clearly distinguished between mass and weight in 1687, many people still use these words interchangeably. This is a clear success as a delaying tactic; the muddle between mass and weight is now over 300 years old!
For speed units you might like to avoid the correct SI symbol, km/h, for kilometres per hour, and start with these: Kays, kays, KPH, kph, km/hr, km per h, kmh, k/mh, Kilos, kilos, K, k, Ks, ks, or kliks.
You will soon learn that you are not alone in your attempt to slow down metric conversion. Paper makers are specially gifted in this area. At my paper suppliers I found the following different, and incorrect, ways to describe paper: 100gsm, 90GSM, GSM: 110 Grain:, 150GSM, 80GSM, 80GSM, 80 gsm, GSM: 140, GSM: 140 Grains:, 90 GSM, GSM: 200, 200 G.S.M, GSM: 80, 110 GSM, 100 Gm2, GSM: 150 Grain:, 80 gsm, 110 GSM, Brandname 80, Brandname 80, 80 gsm, GSM: 80 Grains:, GSM: 150 Grains:, Gsm 90, 80GSM, GSM: 80, 80 gsm, 80 gsm, 80gsm, 80 g/m2, GSM: 80, 80gsm, 80GSM, 80 GSM, 80 GSM, 80gsm, 80 GSM, 100 GSM, 80gsm, 80 grs/m, 80GSM, 70gsm, 80 g.s.m, 70g.s.m., 80 G.S.M, 90GSM, 90 gr/m2, 90 gr/m2, GSM (without a number), 80gsm, 80GSM, and GM2. Leaving aside the question of a space between the numeral and the unit, (preferred in SI) and no space, there are enough incorrect units here to slow anyone down. By the way, the correct unit, 'grams per square metre', measures mass divided by area, and its internationally accepted symbol is g/m2 with the 2 as a superscript.
Another ploy used by paper makers is to encourage the jargon terms 'paper weight' or 'grammage', which has the effect of preventing people from knowing that paper is described in terms of the mass of the paper divided by its area. A range of occupations can use this trick; simply borrow poor language practices from the old ways of measuring. Encourage the use of words like calorie content, footage, mileage, and yardage where you use the name of the measuring unit as if it were the name of a physical quantity. This always was an inferior and confusing practice. The words amperage, tonneage, voltage, and wattage should be enough to get you started.
Remember that as SI is so simple, that you should always aim for as much complexity as you can.
7 Praise old ways of measuring
None of the old ways of measuring were ever organised into systems, even though there were several partial attempts at organisation. So to give the illusion of organisation, talk about the British system, which never existed in any sort of system; the Imperial system, which never existed; or the customary system of the USA, which doesn't exist now and, in fact, never existed.
Before the invention of the International System of Units (SI), there had never been a fully developed, coherent, system of units. The metric system is the only system ever developed where units are completely standard wherever they are used in the world. When you buy a kilogram of fruit or vegetables you can be sure that you get a kilogram because there is an international standard kilogram, kept in Paris, and agreed to by all nations under an international treaty.
Unfortunately, this is not always true with old units. When you hear the name of an old unit you might automatically suppose that it means something definite. For example, if someone tells you that they have a 17 inch computer screen do not measure it; you do not need to know that some inches are bigger than others, and that some like computer industry inches are smaller than others.
Similarly, when you hear the price of oil on the news you might assume that the word barrel (sometimes written as bbl) has a definite meaning. Do not encourage people to know that there are at least 14 different kinds of barrel, and that these measure a range of different things. To measure volume you could use the Imperial barrel (164 L), oil barrel (159 L), Old English beer barrel (166 L), US cistern or old beer bbl (136 L), US cranberry bbl (95 L), US dry barrel (116 L), US federal barrel (117 L), US federal proof spirits barrel (151 L), or the US liquid barrel (119 L).
On the other hand, the barrel might not measure volume or capacity at all a barrel of oil might measure mass in kilograms you could buy a barrel of crude oil of 136 kg. You can even buy barrels of energy; a barrel of crude oil energy might be 5.77 gigajoules (GJ) or 6.15 GJ; and a barrel of LNG energy might be 3.17 GJ. In addition, of course, there are also barrels of fun and barrels of monkeys.
Miles are good too. There are statute miles, nautical miles, Irish miles, Swedish miles, air miles, and survey miles at least. You can take your pick or, like some airline companies, just mix them up, or change them, at random. Do not ever get involved in discussions about international miles and statute or survey miles. Again, you do not need to encourage the knowledge that, unlike kilometres, different miles have different lengths.
Remember your goal here is to try to give an illusion of organisation into systems for all the old, different, pre-metric measures.
8 Encourage the use of old rules of thumb
Maintaining old rules of thumb are an excellent way to avoid changing your mind to metric.
For over a hundred years, opticians have used an arrangement to measure eyes, which uses a distance of six metres from your eyes to the test chart often via a mirror. For all that time the opticians have told many of us that those six metres are really twenty feet. This lie has been built into our language as '20/20 vision'.
Dieticians use an 'add a zero' rule where they add a zero to your body mass (in pounds) to find out the calorific (sic) value of your foods in the old calories (or Calories or kilocalories). Use of this, and similar, rules of thumb has so far prevented most dieticians from using modern metric system measuring units.
For professional tennis players the 90-90 rule is also a good model. Ninety degrees Fahrenheit and 90 % humidity means that they do not play that day.
If Rules of Thumb are a bit scarce in your industry, make some up using old measures. On the other hand, discourage the development of metric rules of thumb. Remember that SI rules of thumb are very powerful, so discourage them at all times. Even better, do not ever suggest that any metric rules of thumb could exist. Do not devise maxims like:
A gram of prevention is worth a tonne of cure. 9 Assume rapid change
Changes in measurement methods take time. This has always been true because many, perhaps most, people do not understand that measurement applies to everything we do, from the way we are measured on the day we are born, through everything we buy or sell throughout our lives, to the measurements of medicines as we approach our death.
These changes reach to profound levels in all of our organisations and in all aspects of our society. When we change to the metric system, we are asking all of our people to change all of their minds; and we want them all, individually and collectively, to adopt a new mindset.
You can use this complexity to promote delay by encouraging the idea that changing to the metric system can be done in a short time. You could even get politicians to only fund metrication programs for a few years.
One big advantage of trying to do things too quickly is the high probability that you will do it badly. The next time you try to metricate you will hear:
Look what happened last time. It was a fiasco. It cost us a lot of time, and a lot of grief, and we got nowhere. It's too hard, we don't want to do it again.On a national scale, a change of this magnitude is a generational change that could take two to four generations, or between 50 and 100 years. When you announce your change to the metric system, make sure you use an impossibly short period. Most nations opt for ten years and many companies decide on one year. This leads to wonderful confusion at the end of the allotted time as people wander about saying:
The conversion didn't work yet; what do we do now?This technique has worked well, nationally in the USA, when various governments attempted, either legislatively or administratively, to make a quick change to the metric system in 1793, 1866, 1878, 1892, 1975, 1978, 1988, 1991, and 1992 (see http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/ for details).
(Note: It is possible to do a metric transition program for a whole company in a single day. However, this requires thought and planning and you don't want to know about this as you conduct your metrication delaying tactics. Please contact me if you would like details of Metrication in a day)
Remember: Use the proven technique of predicting unrealistic timeframes for your metric transition.
10 Conversion theory not practice
Do not use practical measurement. Do not have trainees measure the width of their little fingernail (~10 mm), the width of their thumbnail (~15 mm), the width of their fingers (~20 mm), the width of their hand (~100 mm), the length of their cubit (~500 mm), their height (~1.7 metres for men or ~1.6 metres for women), or their body mass (~80 kilograms for men ~70 kilograms for women ~3 500 grams for babies). Do not let them feel kilogram masses, pour litres of liquid, or step out distances in metres.
The approach you are trying to avoid here has been known for 2500 years when Confucius is reputed to have written:
If I hear, I will forget
If I see, I will remember
If I do, I will understand.Under no circumstances should you support practical activities that require the actual measuring of anything using metric units. The more people measure the sooner they realise that the metric system is essentially simple and they are then inclined, not only to learn it quickly, but they usually become enthusiasts who refuse to use old measures at all and you don't want that.
Use metric conversions whenever possible. These take an enormous amount of time; they are unpleasant to do; they are usually completely unnecessary; and they can always be relied on to produce multiple errors. A well-planned, snap change directly to metric is too easy and too quick so encourage conversions. Go further; invest the limited funds available for metrication to actually train people in conversion methods.
As you do the conversions and produce conversion tables, always convert back to old measures. For example: the approximate conversion:
leads to the idea that SI is simple and that old methods are difficult. On the other hand the exact conversion: 1 metre = 1 yard 0 ft 3 47/128ths inches
gives an illusion that yards are the right and proper units and that metres and millimetres are not only overly complicated, but that they are a fad and it's only a matter of time before we convert back to the real stuff. To slow down the change to SI, always choose the second method rather than the first. 1 yard = 0.9144 m
Use dual scale instruments to encourage conversions, especially conversions from metric units back yo old pre-metric measures. If, after an extensive rearguard action you are forced to change to metric, buy dual sided tapes and rulers, buy any instrument that has a dual scale or any instrument that can be changed from old measures to SI units by flicking a switch. Be assured that users of your tapes and instruments will not change to any new methods quickly if they have access to dual scales. With dual scales, they will dither between the new ways and the 'safety' of the old ways of measuring on the regressive side of the scale.
Encourage the use of fractions. Even though the metric system is a decimal system, without any need for vulgar fractions, you should encourage the use of halves, quarters, thirds, sevenths, eighths, sixteenths etc. The New York Stock Exchange was able to hold off the change from fractional 'pieces-of-eight' to decimal currency from 1793 to 2001 and that's an impressive 208 years. Schools, too, could be encouraged to continue to teach unnecessary fractions other than decimals.
To prolong the change even further, employ highly trained mathematicians, scientists, and engineers (PhDs without teaching experience are best) to carry out the training in conversions and the construction of useless conversion tables. Highly trained people who have a ready facility in mathematics are rarely able to comprehend that their students, sitting directly in front of them, not only failed elementary arithmetic, but they also have a very healthy fear and loathing of fractions, decimals, and algebra. With this depth of mutual incomprehension, your training programs should be complete failures. While the mathematician is saying, 'Just move the decimal point' an hourly labourer is thinking 'What's a decimal?' and 'What's the point?'
Remember to devise your training programs to encourage the use of old methods, old units, and conversions between them as much as possible.
Develop arguments to support your view for a slow change to SI. Keep in mind as your model the 'little old lady' who plaintively asked in a letter to the editor:
Why can't we wait till all the old people die before we change to the metric system?
Pat Naughtin
Pat Naughtin helps people understand how to go about their metrication upgrade quickly and easily by helping them avoid mistakes that he has made himself, or that he has seen made by others during his more than 40 years of involvement with metrication matters.Pat specialises in the modern metric system based on the International System of Units (SI), but he is mostly concerned with the processes that people use for themselves, their groups, their businesses, their industries, and their nations as they go about their inevitable metrication process.
Pat Naughtin is a highly knowledgeable metric enthusiast, who is also a writer, professional speaker, editor, and publisher. You can contact Pat at
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