Yeah, that one confused me when I first moved to the US. I'd never heard of a cup as a unit of measurement before. A cup is something that you put tea in, and is of variable capacity :-)
cheers
Jules
Drugs have taught an entire generation of Americans the metric system.
P. J. O'Rourke
I think the "standard cup" varies between countries too: 10 fl. oz. in the UK, 8 fl. oz. in USA (half of their respective pints).
Of course the really odd thing is that American cooks measure ingredients by volume in the first place, especially when "one cup" of some ingredients (e.g., flour) could be subject to considerable variation, depend on the degree to which it is packed.
Electronic kitchen scales (switchable between Imperial and Metric, of course) were available in the UK before we could ever find any in the USA.
Perce
..
Thanks. I actually had to google that befoe I believed you? It ain't what you know that hurts, it is what one knows that is wrong :)
Harry K
I remembered that the pilots made that incredible emergency landing and afterwards, every time it was tried in a simulator, the plane crashed. I think the pilot flew gliders for fun and actually used his glider skills by side slipping the big plane to bleed off air speed. ^_^
TDD
But everyone will use it. Ever since the 2 liter soda bottle, 99.999% of the population is exposed to the metric system. Anyone working around machinery or automobiles is exposed to it.
Yes, I had Latin and would have preferred to learn metrics. I use it every day now. The machines in our industry have been metric for the past 30 years since the US manufacturers stopped making them. All the tooling associated with them is metric and the US suppliers of our raw material use metric.
Anyone not using and learning it has their head in the sand. It is not going away, nor should it.
Ed Pawlowski wrote the following:
Ask anyone how many units in pints or quarts those 2 liter bottles contain. Even I'd have to look it up for the exact figure. I believe it's a little less than a quart (I would have to look it up to see if my guess is correct, but I won't). Being exposed to the metric system does not mean that one understands it.
Which sorta reinforces my argument that those in the US who need to use metrics can and in those areas where it isn't needed (mile markers for instance) we can stay the same. Measurements are, in the final analysis, just numbers and numbers are just ways of rather arbitrarily if think about, to assign a value.
A liter is a quart plus a liter bit more...
Kurt Ullman wrote in news:Uqidnau22qSEH2LTnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:
Indeed! We agree again! Coming from a metric country to the US at age 25, and active in science, I have never forgotten metric, and I got fairly easily used to US measurements with all their (silly) subdivisions. Here is how to look at it:
A quart is a little less than a liter. An inch is about 2.54 cm A pound is 453 grams A mile is about 1.6 km.
For the rest it is a question of powers of 10 for metric measurements. Duh.
But I have never been able to nicely guess how far away another km or mile was.
Oh yea, a brisk, but not too brisk walking pace is 5 km/hr or 3 miles/hr (with proper inaccuracies built in).
The point is to just stop using US units. A liter = quart and a yard = meter. 1 mile = 1.5 kilometers
Anyone in school doing math will love you for it. Kids will love you for it.
Forget conversions. Forget US units.
And................if you really have to know a conversion. Google will nail it for you. Put in any distance an it will convert to any other distance. One conversion to convert light years to centimeters or feet.
same with volume, same with time, same as it ever was.
In a few years cars and phones will be smart enough not to need (as many) signs.
The way to look at is.. who cares? Other than an inch (and maybe a foot) when was the last time you needed a measurement that you did it yourself? When I need a wrench, I get one I think is correct and then go up or down depending on the original one fit. I either take the measurement on the side of the milk carton at face value or the measurement of the measuring cup I am using to double check. I can't tell (again with the possible exception of an inch using my finger knuckle or a foot using my well foot). Other than that who really cares?
My personal experience suggests that signs will still be around, if only to keep someone's ne'er do well brother in law off of some politican's couch (grin).
Kurt Ullman wrote the following:
The first time I saw Km speed limits and distance signs on a US highway was on the new Rt.1 in Delaware back in the 1990s. There were no MPH or distance signs in Miles. I made regular trips from here to southern DE (next to the MD border near Ocean City) when my Mother lived there. When she died, I never went down there again. Does anyone know if that still is the case?
I find metric much easier to deal with. It's all base 10. The only place it is not an advantage is temperature. Fahrenheit is more granular than Celsius, at roughly 4 deg F for every 1 deg C.
You wanna see how screwy US measurements are? Ask yer avg American to explain the difference between the weight of 1 oz and the volume of 1 oz. Whenever this subject comes up on rec.food.cooking, the mustard is off the hot dog!! ;)
nb
As did I, in the early '60s. We were also taught arithmetic (in several bases, no less ;-).
Everyone in rec.food.cooking should have a kitchen scale besides the measuring cup. :-p
You have to "want" to understand it. If you look at that 2 liter soda bottle, it will show you it is 67.6 ounces and no, I did not have to look it up. Wine and spirits are 750 ml and 1 liter too.
After using it a while you can think pressure in bars and weight in kilos and density if grams per liter. Take a trip to Europe and you will find groceries in kilos and fuel priced in Euro per liter. After a week, I don't have to even do the math any more, I know what it means.
It is a mind set. People are afraid of change and some ferociously resist it. . When I found that I'd have to use metrics some years ago, the thought was a bit intimidating. After a few days, it was just another set of numbers that was easy to understand. Forget silly wrench sizes like 23/64.
If you can use dimes and dollars, you can use metric.
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