Re: OT: we quaint Brits (was: those irregular prepositions)
| From: | Larry Sulky <larrysulky@...> |
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| Date: | Saturday, June 24, 2006, 1:42 |
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On 6/23/06, Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...> wrote:
> On Fri, 23 Jun 2006 16:55:35 -0400, Aidan Grey <taalenmaple@...>
> wrote:
>
> > As best I know - that's not SOOO counterfactual. I understood it refered
> > to the fact that a gallon of water weighs 8 pounds - hence, a pint
> > weighs a pound. That's the only context I've heard the phrase, anyway.
>
> But that's exactly it: a gallon of water does not *always* weigh 8 pounds
> -- only in the US, and presumably non-metric parts of Canada.
Some gallons in Canada would weigh about 10 pounds. Others would weigh
about 8. Either of those kinds of gallons would be labeled metrically,
though. The only things I can think of that we buy in gallon-sizes
(however labeled) anymore are paints and the like, which weigh more
than water anyway.
All parts of Canada are simultaneously metric and non-metric, though
not necessarily in the same things, except sometimes, unless they
aren't.
--larry
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