Silent Acorns

Here are some more:

The Hives - Introduce The Metric System In Time

Been trying for all my life but I can't add up your subtraction.
Work, eat, play then go to sleep that won't get me no satisfaction.
Gotta find a way out, yeah a way out of this mess.
So sick of trying to make my time last and ending up with less.

I know your way of doing things and it has lost it's attraction.
Why settle for twenty-four when I can have a hundred fractions.
Who knew I'd be the one pulling off the perfect crime.
So here's my new line I'll change your mind and the metric system to time.

Caused trouble all over town and it's bound to start a reaction.
Metric time will come around it's gonna overtake your contraction
I've found a way out yeah a way out of this stress.
I made my time last and it's total success.

Got my way of doing things and it's bound to gain your attraction.
A hundred hours is my supply it's gonna give us all satisfaction.
No doubt I'd be the one pulling off the perfect crime.
So here's my new line I'll change my mind and the metric system to time.

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Personally, I think that metric time should be based on the day because it's the only unit of time that we are biologically tied to.

For convenience, the time of day could be expressed in centidays. For example, it's now 11:08 AM here. This would work out to 46.389 centidays. Instead of waking up at 6:00 AM, having lunch at 12:00 pm, dinner at 6:00pm, and going to bed at midnigt, you'd wake up at 25.000, have lunch at 50.000, dinner at 75.000, and got to bed at 100.000 (or 0.000).

Godless Dave

See, this metric time debate is why I'm leery of any mandate from above to tell people how to measure things. It is not a new idea - I believe the French government proposed something like it after the Revolution. They also had a more sensible system for the months and weeks of the year. I am not a slave to tradition by any means but there are a few things that have worked for a long time and don't need to be messed with. Is it really so hard to divide by 12 or by 60? Should we also change our English words "eleven" and "twelve" (holdovers from a Germanic base-12 nomenclature) with "unteen" and "twoteen"?

Lobstrosity

Of course not! We should change then to tenty-one and tenty-two.

Wyz_sub10

Actually, I believe "eleven" and "twelve" derive specifically from a base-10 system.

"Eleven" comes from Old English "endleofan" ('fan' meaning "to leave" or "left"). This supposedly comes from one left after counting 10 fingers.

"Twelve" is basically the same. The word "twelfe" meaning "two left over" after counting ten.

I looked at various etymology and math sites, and they seem to confirm this pretty much.

babdon

Well, its funny, i never really did ponder this. I guess i'm just used to it now.
I've done a lot of travelling and just like adapting to different weather or cultures, you just learn what measurements are used and do the conversions as necessary. Would it be easier if everyone used the metric system? well, yes, of course, it makes perfect sense. But again, wouldn't it be easier if all countries used thesame currency?

Silent Acorns

Tenty would be 100. We should stop saying eleven, twelve, thirteen, etc. and say onety-one, onety-two, ... onety-nine instead.

Lobstrosity

You're right! And then there'd be no confusion trying to figure out whether someone said "tenty-seven" or "twenty-seven." Onety-one, here I come!

Silent Acorns

After thinking about this a little more we should also drop the number "ten" and rename it "onety". And while we're at it, let's change it to "two onety", "three onety", ...and "nine onety". Also we should call it "base onety" not "base 10".

So, instead of saying 465 as "hour hundred sixty-five" we should now all say "four hundred six onety five".

Lobstrosity

I like it! To hell with idioms!

KnightWhoSaysNi

As a Canadian, I had no trouble with the transition to metric. Metric conversion happened in the 70's and was taught in all of the schools since. I can't speak for all Canadians, but I tend to think in metric for most things. I know my height in cm and mass in kg. If somebody asked me directions to a location that was close by, I'd say something like.. "go 50 metres that way and then go another 200 metres and you'll see it to the right." 35 °C is fricken' hot to me and -35 °C is fricken' cold.

I just think the metric system is far superior to the archaic and primitive inch/pound system. I'm all for the extinction of the inch/pound system like it is in the Star Trek universe.