G.P., I was just thinking of you the other day, and wondering what had become of you. But to answer your question, maybe it's the same reason that the late Mao Tse Zung insisted that all his loyal Communist followers should speak Mandarin. (Prior to 1949, the official language of the people was mostly Cantonese. Only officers and royalty in the Imperial City spoke Mandarin, according to our Chinese guide in 1988.Actually, the real reason we've been so slow is because manufacturing industry lobbyists in our illustrious capital (and capitol--look up the difference in your Webster's or Funk & Wagnall, to quote the late Rowan & Martin--my favorite TV comedians.) The lobbyists convinced Congress that retooling all the manufacturing to metric would be just too, too expensive, never mind that yes, it is very expensive every time they (of necessity) use metric measure for all overseas goods.
Actually too, we aren't the only ones who dragged our feet. When Papa Elf and I were touring the U.K. in 1998, I read in the "Sun" (gotta love those Rupert Murdoch publications!) a long complaint from an English housewife about the metric system: "Why can't you print the weather like you used to--give us back our Fahrenheits, we don't want no centigrades!"
