How do you measure?

So, apparently, being a citizen of the United States, I am counter to the times by being a standard user of the Imperial system. You know the Imperial system?

Measurements: teaspoon, tablespoon, stick, inch, foot, yard, furlong, fathom, mile, nautical mile, acre.
Liquid volume: ounce, cup, pint, quart, gallon, and my personal favorite, hogshead (63 gallons)
Dry volume: pint, quart, gallon, peck, bushel
Weight: ounce, pound, stone, ton

I realize I am about to voice a dated opinion, but I will voice it nonetheless. The Imperial system uses a ridiculous amount of terms to describe measurement. The metric system uses basic math prefixes (milli, centi, kilo, etc.) and three main roots (liters, meters, and grams). The Imperial system is a fucked up mess.

The Imperial system was created by the British Weights and Measures Act of 1824. There is also a pseudo-Imperial system of measurement used in the United States. This measurement system is called U.S. Customary and shares many names and measurements with the Imperial system, but not everything. There was a later refinement in 1959 to the original British Weights and Measures Act in order to get more equivalency between the two similar systems.

Here's the thing though. The United Kingdom transitioned to standard metric units via the Unit of Measurement Regulations in 1995. Measuring devices commonly have both metric and Imperial units on them now. A beer is still sold in the pub by the pint. A number of signs are still in Imperial. However, the region is transitioning to metric.

Many probably know metric, but have used it more commonly in the chemistry lab - meters, liters, and grams... oh my.

A number of countries jumped on the Imperial bandwagon because Britain was pretty good at colonizing or exerting its influence back in the day - United States, Canada, Australia, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Ireland, Antigua, Belize, Burma (Myanmar), Grenada, Guyana, Sierra Leone, United Arab Emirates, and Liberia.

In the past 40-50 years, there has been a push to standardize the world on a system of measurements. This system is known as the metric system. A number of countries have switched or are in the process of switching from the Imperial system to the metric system.

Some countries have not - the United States, Liberia, and Burma (Myanmar). Yes, 3 countries in the entire world have not yet adopted the International System of Units (the metric system) as their primary system of measurement.

A picture is worth 1000 worlds. How about 3 words?

It's time to suck it up and change. I realize it's a pain in the ass, but there is already infrastructure in place to support this on a number of levels. Your measuring cup at home probably has notches for both liters and cups already. Your car's speedometer probably already has measurements for both miles per hour and kilometers per hour.

The main things I will have to get use on a day-to-day basis are noting my weight in kilograms and having a more intuitive knowledge of the Celsius temperature scale. Let's capture the dream.