The word stupid was never brought into this.
Its simply a case of no one can agree on anything and no one will change unless it is forced upon them.
Even I default to inches to measure but prefer metric for temperature and fluids.
Unless its gas of course.
Where would I be without my 160 ounce gallon cans.
Speedo:
I think this is more about restricting the import of cars from other countries than anything else.
Happens here too...
It tongue in cheek. 30 years in Japan, I learnt a few of those metric things. KMH to MPH conversions were on the driving tests. And yes, auto importation is all about protectionism, with reasons for non-importation cited anywhere from "Air Bag Warning Signs Not in English" to Silk Screen Speedo issues, to crash tests. Essentially, a non-US importer needs to grease up enough money skids to not piss off Detroit as it were. (VW has some catching up to do I bet)
In the 70's we were all told we'd be going metric. Everyone groaned, scary, scary business. We revolted (again) and it never came to be. Once I started living overseas, it became crystal clear to me that metric was preferable to inches. Current ideology (flag waving) lends itself to ethnocentric balking of learning a new base ten system. As if the inch-wise crap purchased at Harbor Freight was ever in "inches."
It does work out for me, since certain extremely rare and expensive bearings are priced at $25 each here, and $1.50 somewhere else- because they're listed as mm sized. :thumbsup: