Sodas come in bottles measured in liters.

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It is one of the few cases where Americans use metric.

At the time this began, the US had the same basic plan to metricate as did Canada. For some reason, this was a first step. Reagan then promised Americans that the US would never metricate, because he understood that most people didn't want to. But this lives on, sort of like Neanderthal DNA in the genome of a Homo Sapiens.

Historical note: When the price per gallon of gasoline first exceeded $1, some gas stations sold it in liters because the highest per-unit price their pumps could support was 0.999.

To give credit where it's due, most of the stuff I've seen has metric volumes or weights as well. Funny about that soda though. I wonder what they were thinking?

Strange place, America. Decimal coinage decades years before the UK, but they're still bogged down with gallons quarts and pints, pounds and ounces. It just makes it harder to compare prices.

Hang on, ChatGPT says it's not confined to soda but extends to most if not all stuff:

"Actually, the requirement for metric labeling extends beyond just soda. The FDA regulations mandate metric labeling for various food and beverage products sold in the United States, not just soda. This includes items such as milk, bottled water, canned goods, and many other packaged foods.

The rationale behind this requirement is to provide consistency and clarity for consumers by using a standardized measurement system. By using metric units, it allows consumers to easily compare products and understand the quantity they are purchasing, regardless of brand or origin."

It also says it's regulated at the federal level and that individual states can't disobey that. Could it be that the soda was imported from a metric country and so only has metric on the label?

That is curious. The U.S. always had money that was ...essentially...metric in concept since we broke from Britain and their cumbersome system of money. But then Britain switched from Imperial to metric in everything else like over night. And we still use their imperial system.

Nearly everywhere in the world except the United States has gone to metric.

Metric time was attempted as well, but that never caught on anywhere.

But even back in the day madison ave measured cigarettes in metric.

Regular non filter Lucky Strikes and Camels were 70 MM.

King Sized cigarettes were 85 mm.

Then in the late Sixties Benson and Hedges introduced the 100 mm cigarette.

https://youtu.be/YVsDeNN1MaE

Then a competing company came out with the "101" which was just a...


https://youtu.be/3QJnGUglTRw

Silly millimeter longer.

And now lady's cigarettes are commonly 120 millimeters long.

Last edited by naturalplastic on 18 May 2024, 2:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Decimal currency was first mooted in Victorian times but was dropped when it began to feel like too much of a can of worms. I think the final switch had something to do with the EU. The conservatives who disliked Europe worried about a perceived threat to their "pint in the pub" being changed to a half litre. The Prime Minister had to reassure the country that it wasn't going to happen, if I remember right. Now we're out of the EU we're wondering how long it'll be before some conservative starts trying to turn the clock back on the weights and measures out of patriotic principle. They've already resurrected the blue passport (was brown under the EU).

It's pathetic that we won't use metric units in the US.
I, however, work only in metric units, and everyone else will just have to deal with it.
It'll catch on eventually.

I remember as a kid being totally confused by the differences in both the metric system and the "American" system. Maybe it's because of dyscalculia, or maybe not. In Canada practically everyone defines their own height and weight in pounds and feet but we buy groceries in grams and liters. One time I ordered a plushie of the video game character Q*Bert on Amazon, but cancelled it when I realized it was measured in centimeters and not inches, which meant it was much smaller than I had originally thought. But soda, or pop as we call it up here, has been in liters for as long as I can remember.

Sometimes I wonder why how you measure things is such a big screaming deal. Like Europeans making fun of you and calling you a typical American because you don't know how much something weighs in kilograms.

Some industrial chemicals in the US are in liters. The three jobs I've had were cleaning related & some of the soaps & related things we used came in liters. My dad worked in constrction till he he retired after Covid started & some various chemicals he uses at home for various DIY projects are in liters. Also lots of his tools list both measuring systems.