Strange Bedfellows?February 16th, 2006 by Adamu |
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Quick quiz:
What are the only three countries in the world who continue to officially use the Imperial system of weights and measures (feet, gallons, etc.)? First person to comment with the right answer gets to tell me what my next blog post has to be about.
February 16th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
According to web sources, it’s the US, Libya, and Burma/Myanmar.
I’m sticking with the Imperial system. If God had wanted us to use Metric, he would have made the distance between King Henry’s nose and thumbtip 1 Meter instead of 1 Yard.
February 16th, 2006 at 3:12 pm
US, Burma, and Liberia. Is the next post about rare gold coin replicas sold on late-night TV that are “legal tender.” (they’re legal tender of Liberia, and worth squat)
February 16th, 2006 at 7:32 pm
OK, thank God Charles won, because I know nothing about Liberian currency.
What’ll it be, Charles?
February 16th, 2006 at 9:39 pm
OK, I’ll keep my requested topic on generally Asian turf.
Please write an essay describing your intense love for Enka, and in particular, your favorite Enka singer and your favorite Enka song.
February 16th, 2006 at 11:42 pm
OK, I did three while you were deciding, but the NEXT one will be all about that I promise.
February 17th, 2006 at 9:34 am
Hah… I didn’t realize you wanted someone to tell you what to write about … I thought we had to guess what you already had in store. (btw, I’m bad at guessing)
February 17th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
Actually, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and some Caribbean countries still use Imperial system.
February 17th, 2006 at 1:09 pm
Correction, those are “U.S. customary units.” How could I have been so foolish?
February 17th, 2006 at 2:58 pm
OK, this is kind of complicated.
According to Wikipedia, the Imperial System of measurement, which standardized measurements throughout the then-growing British Empire, was established in 1824. This was, of course, after the US gained independence, meaning that the US was never a part of the Imperial System (though US measurements and the IS are of course similar).
Liberia was started under US auspices by free blacks from that country in 1847, so (I’m assuming) they brought the US system with them rather than the Imperial System per se.
That would supposedly make Burma the only country in the world to be shouldering an Imperial System legacy.
Still, I’ll be sure to write about my favorite Enka tonight.