Well, think about it this way - could we go further than 1/2"? Obviously we can but would it be beneficial? It's convenient because it's not too big, but what if we made everything at 1"? Would that be better? It may be that the "Germans" are at the same place as the "US" - they could go further but they just haven't, for whatever reason I'm not sure (probalby because people don't like change).
BTW, the off-topic read was interesting
