7 Jul
2012
7 Jul
'12
1:20 p.m.
On 07/07/2012 05:28, Chuck Guzis wrote:
I found this interesting tidbit:
"The legal standard English spirit measure is 25ml or 35ml. These are
the metric conversions of the old measures of 1/6 gill or 1/4 gill
(or 1/5 gill in Scotland).
That's not quite right. When I was a teenager in Edinburgh, the normal
measure in Scotland was 1/4 gill (just over 35ml). English measures
were always smaller, usually (in my youth) 1/5th (1 fl oz, or 28ml), but
later, especially in the south, 1/6th (just under 24ml). While a few
places in Scotland adopted the 1/5th when the 1/6th became common in
England, the 1/4 remained in many places until it became compulsory to
use the metric measures.
The gill is sometimes spelled jill. There is an
explanation of the
nursery rhyme:
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came
tumbling after.
When Charles I scaled down the 'jack' (a two-ounce measure) so as to
collect higher sales taxes, the jill, by definition twice the size of
the jack, was automatically reduced also and 'came tumbling after.' "
That one seems a bit mixed up. I've never seen the unit of measure
spelt with a 'j' and neither has the OED. Both Jill and Gill are common
forms of the girl's name here, so as they're pronounced the same, it
would be reasonable to change the spelling for the rhyme, but not the
explanation. I've seen "jack" refer to 2 jiggers, but both are fairly
modern American terms, although it makes the explanation fit with a US
gill (4 fluid oz). Doesn't quite relate to Charles I though, because an
imperial gill has always been 1/4 pint and always 5 fluid ounces. A
jack, however, is an antique term for half a pint in England, so it sort
of works if the explanation of jack versus "jill" is AAF.
I've obviously got too much time on my hands if I'm writing this stuff.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York