A letter to the editor of the South-East Iowa Union lists three of the things foreigners find strange about the US. First on the list: the metric system, or more to the point, its absence.

Some of us have probably seen lists like this before, but what makes this one different is that it was compiled by an American interviewing visitors to the US.

To quote the relevant part of his letter:

. . . Other times, these conversations open my eyes to American practices that are kind of weird, maybe even a little backward. Though the United States is a rich and technologically advanced country, there are some simple changes we can undertake to make our lives easier.

Metric system

Most people know that the United States uses a different system of measurement from the rest of the world, which has largely adopted the metric system, devised in France in the late 18th century. In fact, there are only three holdouts who still use the imperial system (miles, cups, pounds): the United States, Liberia and Myanmar. Everyone else has gone metric.

I find the imperial system most annoying in the kitchen, especially after I left college and started doing more cooking. I’m constantly, to this day, having to look up conversions between the various units of measurement in the imperial system.

There are three teaspoons in a tablespoon, two tablespoons in an ounce, eight ounces in a cup, 16 ounces in a pound …. where’s the pattern here? This is madness! Let’s measure everything in grams and liters so we can save our brainpower for the difficult task of not burning the mac and cheese.