America is one of only three countries in the world that hasn’t gone metric. The others? Myanmar and Liberia. That’s right, we’re basically in an exclusive club of “Nah, we’re good” countries. And while the rest of the planet calmly measures things in tens, we’re still out here talking about yards, ounces, and degrees Fahrenheit, like rebellious teenagers who refuse to clean their rooms.

But here’s the thing: it’s not really about measurements. It’s about how Americans deal with change in general. Spoiler: they don’t, at least not until it feels like their idea.

The Great Metric Almost-Shift

Back in the 1970s, Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act, a law that said: “Hey, maybe we should finally join the rest of the world.” They even created a Metric Board to oversee the transition. Road signs were tested in kilometers, grocery packaging started showing grams next to ounces, and schoolkids were actually taught how to measure things like Europeans.

Cue the national meltdown.

Drivers screamed about confusing road signs. Shoppers didn’t want to buy a “2-liter bottle” of soda when a “big ol’ quart” was perfectly fine. And the government was already deeply distrusted thanks to Vietnam and Watergate, so the idea of bureaucrats telling people how to measure their sugar went down about as well as a flat Pepsi. By 1982, President Reagan (patron saint of deregulation) killed the Metric Board. End of experiment.

Result: today we get the weird hybrid system where a car’s engine is measured in liters but your gas is sold by the gallon. Makes sense, right?

The Real Issue: Americans Hate Being Told to Change

It’s not that the metric system is hard. It’s easier. It’s not that Celsius is confusing. It’s logical. The problem is Americans don’t like change when it feels forced.

• Tradition as comfort: Grandma’s pie recipe doesn’t call for “200 grams of flour,” it calls for “a cup.” And nobody wants to picture a “1.83-meter man.” Six feet just sounds better.
• Suspicion of authority: Metric felt like government overreach. The same country that has an extra tenth on gas prices, wasn’t about to count in tens just because Washington said so.
• Identity & pride: Sticking with feet and Fahrenheit became a quiet middle finger to the rest of the world. America broke from Britain, then doubled down on Britain’s old system even after Britain itself ditched it. That’s commitment.

The Pattern Repeats Everywhere

It’s not just measurement. Americans resist change across the board.

• Civil rights? Fought tooth and nail before eventually becoming “obvious.”
• Healthcare reforms? Every new program is branded socialism, tyranny, or the end of freedom itself. Then, once it sticks, people scream bloody murder if you try to take it away. (Medicare was once a “communist plot.” Now it’s sacred. Obamacare? Still everyone’s favorite political punching bag, depending on which dinner table you’re at.)
• Daylight Saving Time? Still arguing about it like it’s the final boss of time travel.
• Electric cars? Cool if Elon Musk sells them, evil if the government suggests them.

And yet, when Americans do adopt something, they sprint. Smartphones, social media, streaming—they were embraced faster in the U.S. than in most countries. The contradiction is wild: We hate change, but only when it’s not our idea.

The Punchline

So why hasn’t America gone metric? Same reason it drags its feet on every change: it wasn’t chosen, it was suggested. And nothing gets Americans digging their heels in faster than the whiff of outside pressure.

Which leaves us in this strange place where we resist, resist, resist—then suddenly adopt something and pretend we always loved it. Someday, maybe Americans will wake up measuring everything in centimeters and Celsius, and the same people who fought it will say, “Of course we did this, it was common sense all along.”

Until then? Enjoy trying to explain to a European why water freezes at 32 degrees and a football field is 100 yards long. Just don’t ask us to change.