Ever since I set foot in the US some years ago, I have been puzzled by its adherence to the (clumsy) imperial system of measurements when the rest of the world has gone metric.

Even the bloody Poms, who are so steeped in traditions and conservative, have ditched the old system in favour of decimal coinage.

Coming from a metric system country, I find the imperial system takes a while to get used to. Road speed limit signs are the most obvious (I was driving at 50 km when I should be doing 80 km. No wonder so many overtook me and gave me the one-finger salute!). Buying petrol at a gas station is another (I constantly had to convert gallon to litre to find out how much cheaper gas is). Temperature measurement is the third. And so on.

Strolling inside a supermarket, I jumped at the price of bananas, which are extremely cheap, until I realised they are sold in pounds, instead of kilograms.

However, I believe the US scientific community does adopt the metric system in its research findings and publications, to align with the international audience. Is this correct, Prof. Cheung?

For a country as huge as the US, it’s not easy to change to a new system. (I think it took Kiwiland over 10 years to phase in the metric system).

Just changing the road signs will probably stretch the finance of the local governments somewhat. But more importantly, I’ve got a feeling the Yanks are holding onto something they are familiar with, and refuse to contemplate something so different. Why change it when it ain’t broke?, runs the argument.

Remember the public relations disaster Coca Cola faced when it tempered with its classic Coke formula? The company executives became public enemy number one for a while until they decided to create a new coke against the old one, hence the birth of the classic coke. Before that, customers were hoarding the classic coke by the thousands in case they don’t make them anymore.

I think this is what the US politicians will face if they dare to bring in the metric system – an open revolt. (They may even declare war against Canada for adopting the metric system in the first place. Somebody has to take the blame.) I can also image the disappearance of the road speed signs overnight, by souvenir collectors. If that happens, that will well and truly be a disaster for the US.