28 May
2010
28 May
'10
1:22 p.m.
On 28 May 2010 at 18:36, arcarlini at iee.org wrote:
Like it or lump it it's the law. Except in pubs,
where you will be
served pints not litres (and certainly never, ever liters :0).
Beverages are a mixed picture here. Beer is sold by the ounce, but
distilled spirits in 750 ml. bottles, sometimes called "fifths"--but
that's a cheat--a true "fifth" is 0.8 quarts or 757 ml. The
distillers didn't change their prices when the conversion was made.
Soft drinks are another matter--large containers are 2L, instead of
0.5 gallon, so that's a plus. But small containers are still 8, 16
or 20 oz.
Fortunately, drug prescriptions are now written in metric instead of
drams, minims and scruples. I can remember when they weren't.
Conversion of recipes for cooking can be a nightmare. What the heck
is a Gas Mark? US cooks tend to measure by volume, UK by weight (I
have never owned a kitchen scale and I've been cooking for a long
time). Even those things that appear to be straightforward very
often aren't. A "half pint" of water is 8 liquid ounces in the US,
but 10 in the U.K.
I'll stop here.
--Chuck