Re: CHAT: measures (was: browsers)

On Monday 10 February 2003 6:29 pm, John Cowan wrote:
> Tristan scripsit:
> > > The U.S. fl. oz. is about 29.6 ml, and there are 16 of them in
> > > a gallon.  In the U.K., though, the fl. oz. is about 28.4 ml, but there
> > > are 20 of them in a gallon.
>
> Of course this was a blunder: 16 fl. oz. U.S make a U.S. pint, and 20 fl.
> oz. Imperial make an Imperial pint.  8 pints of whichever size make a
> gallon, as Dirk says.
>
> > (I think. I worked it out because I knew that Australia used
> > to have a pint that sat somewhere between 500 and 600 mL,* and America
> > has one that's less than 500 mL,
>
> Imperial pints are ~ 568 ml, which I'm sure was the Australian value also.
> Hence the British beer-drinker's lament:  a litre is too much, half a
> litre is too little, but a pint, ah, a pint is just right!  Won't work
> in the U.S., of course, since our pint is only ~ 473 ml.
>
> > > I don't buy honey, but I believe it's sold the same way.  Genuine
> > > solids are usually sold by weight, that being easier to measure
> > > automatically (breakfast cereal, e.g., has a notice saying "Contents
> > > sold by weight, not by volume; settling may have occurred during
> > > shipping").
> >
> > They do that here too. I never understood why (cereal boxes are good
> > material to teach children to read with, because they're on the brekky
> > table when children aren't doing much but eating. The reasonably
> > complicated language also results in a better education than Spot
> > books). If it says 800 g, of course it's sold by weight, not volume.
>
> So you won't complain to retailer or manufacturer when the box appears to
> be only 2/3 full or so.
>
> > Hm? So weight is done in only pounds?
>
> Oh, no, the ounce, unqualified, is still a measure of weight.  There are
> 16 oz. to a pound (1 oz. = ~28.34 g, 1 lb = ~ 454 g).  However, gold and
> silver are measured in troy pounds, which have only 12 troy oz. each.
> (1 troy oz. = ~ 31.1 g, 1 troy lb. = ~ 373 g.)  Hence the old question,
> "Which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of gold?" to which
> the answer is "A pound of feathers", because it is an ordinary (aka
> "avoirdupois") pound.  If lead is substituted for gold, of course they
> weigh the same.
>
> But I thought you were talking about *dry ounces*, which are a measure
> of volume for solids only.  1 dry oz. = ~ 1.16 fl. oz.  These are
> extremely obsolete, fortunately.  A bushel, however, is 8 dry gallons.
> (The bushels in which grain is sold, however, are weight-based, and
> their size depends on what the grain is.)
>
> > (Apparently Americans don't use
> > stones, either, and there goes my knowledge of weight measurements.)
>
> No, no stones in these parts.  People's weight is in pounds.
>
> > > BTW, a tablespoon (unit of volume in cooking) is 20 ml in Australia,
> > > 15 ml in the U.K., and approximately 14.7 ml (exactly half a fl. oz.)
> > > in the U.S.
> >
> > I have a feeling teaspoons are different too. Cups are obviously
> > different between Australia and America, but given that a cup here is
> > 250 mL (quarter of a litre), I'm guessing they're the same in the UK.
>
> Nope, a cup is half a pint or 4 fl. oz., which in the U.K. is ~ 284 ml.
> The smaller cup in the U.S. holds ~ 237 ml.
>
> > Not that cookbooks are compatible at the best of times; mince here is
> > (mince) meat, over in America it's apparently some fruit-based thing,
>
> Mincemeat is mincemeat everywhere.  Mince is the chopped dried fruit
> used to make mince pies, which presumably once contained mincemeat.
> Ray Brown (IIRC) told me that mince pies were so-called in the U.K. as
> well, and likewise did not contain meat.
>
IIRC, in the UK, Mincemeat refers to the stuff inside mince pies, but mince
means 'a minced meat'.  However, more normal is 'minced (name of meat)'.