"The story of the metric system starts, somewhat unexpectedly, in 17th Century England, with the proposal by the natural philosopher John Wilkins for a consistently decimal system of units. The Europe of his time was divided by the use of innumerable different systems of measure, with each country using its own traditional units (and in many cases, a lack of even national standardisation meant that different regions within countries would use their own measures). To remedy this, Wilkins conceived of a single, rational standard, based on the best science of his time, which all nations could equally share. His idea for a “universal Measure” was not adopted in his era, although that very phrase would ultimately (via Greek translation) give us the name of the metre."

Certainly happy to expand.

The practical use of units derives from the features of our environments and what is important to us in our lives The length of a day is one of them. The characteristics of water is not, and that is where metric is derived.

When one asks the temperature in the morning, one is not asking how much energy went into a volume of water. One is asking how to dress, so appreciable changes in a sense of temperature are appropriate.

When on weighs themselves on a scale, the ability to calculate the volume of water equivalent is not the goal.

I have now evenly split my life in a metric and common country. I grew up with metric, and find common much more practical because it evolved over centuries to be so.