JC> A classic example came up in the Canadian class the other day in a 
discussi
  > about the metric system. One lady had trouble relating kilometers to 
miles.
  > The prof asked her this question: "How long are you in a foreign country
  > before you stop calculating the monetary rate of exchange?" In most 
ases,
  > we decided it wasn't very long.
JC> As a result of our "conservatism" (or maybe American's are stubborn or 
"bet
  > than"?) we are only one of (maybe) two countries in the world that have 
not
  > adopted the metric system.
This "cultural thing and the metric system is interesting.  In a RIME
writers conference I belong to, there are some people from South Africa,
who often discuss the weather.  ("It was 33 last night; and we had
trouble sleeping").  Some Californian said that she couldn't understand
them unless they tranlated their tempertures into fahrenheit.  I told
her I thought we were only the only country in the world that did not
use the metric system, so *we* should do the translating.  Someone then
said that the US measures system is *his* cultural heritage; and he
didn't feel he should change it.  (probably a jibe at some of *my*
cultural heritage things -g-)   It's amazing how closely tied to our
system many of us are.
And writing this made me realize something.  I think I have more serious
dialogue about Indians on the poetry and writers conferences I belong to
than I do on this conference.  I wonder why.
                             Sondra
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 þ SLMR 2.1a þ Treknobabble, n: nonsense words that solve a problem.
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