Tony Sidaway wrote:
Delirium said:
Miles are still used in both the United States and
UK, which between
them count for a pretty large proportion of the English-speaking world.
In the UK this is only for "folk" uses such as pints of beer and road
signs. I believe all scientific and engineering ventures switched to SI
long ago, and nearly all commercial institutions (aforementioned pints of
beer excluded, for instance) are required to use metric measure although
they are also permitted to provide equivalent ounces, pounds, stones and
whatnot. They sell orange juice in liters, butter by the kilogram, cloth
by the meter. Liquor is sold in metric measure, so in a pub you get a
pint of beer but a 35 ml measure of brandy, and a 200ml glass of wine.
Road signs haven't switched because it would be very difficult and
dangerous as well as politically explosive.
Certainly I agree that we ought to use kilometers exclusively when
discussing scientific matters, since nobody uses anything else. But as
you note, when discussing "folk" matters such as the distances between
cities, much of the English-speaking world uses miles, so it's
appropriate that we use them (though not, of course, without also giving
the distance in kilometers).
-Mark