Size Question

I am going to make a guess and this is just a educated guess. At one time most tips were imported from France and they used the Metric system for measuring size. People put on their own tips without trimming them down to the ferrule like professional repairmen do. This meant they needed to buy the right size tip to fit their shaft. So since tips came from France in mm sizes that system just stuck. When Americans also started making their tips in mm sizes, it was a hopeless cause to try and back up at that point. Also when I was a kid almost 40 years ago they were telling us in school that the USA would be totally on the metric system in several years. Well that didn't happen, but a lot of stuff on cars even has both metric and english sizes on bolts and such. Pharmacies use metric system and english system for medicines. Now we buy cokes in 12 ounce cans or two litre bottles. It is a mixed up mess everywhere. I think both systems are here to stay.
Chris
www.cuesmith.com
www.internationalcuemakers.com