We try not to run the oven before 5pm during summer.
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Why the heck does America still use outdated measurement and date units?
- Thread starter garirry
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Don’t like getting criticized for doing backward crap? Then don’t do backward crap! Just expecting to interact with the civilized world and yet operate like you’re in your own little bubble of specialness & the entire rest of the world should just endlessly make accommodations for you and never dare point out your dysfunction is the absolute pinnacle of arrogance. Yes, everything is sooo perfect that every aspect of this old bodged-together culture is totally above improvement & any criticism is verboten. Sure, good will come of that approach.
…And as for this juvenile garbage about diversity of units & measurements? I hope the person making it is a child, because that’s the only reason I can think that they would be so completely ignorant of all the chaos created by more than a century of industrialization without any decent standards. There’s your super awesome “individualist” approach, with enough room for all the potential to house an infinity of incompatible shapes, sizes, consistencies, and all the catastrophic problems that arose from that wilderness of poor planning and randomized ignorance. There are billions of reasons why it’s been a steady march away from that toward better standardization. With the exception of one country that made half an effort, then thought it could just call “good enough for the 1800s”, and sit on its hands for the rest of time.
This “u can’t tell me what to do” argument is that of a baby crying to its mommy, and not an intelligent defense of indefensible engineering concepts. Ridiculous.
I wonder if some part of the problem is that more non-Americans deal with America than Americans themselves deal with non-Americans.
The average American not involved in the sciences, computers, math, military or international trade do not deal with anyone other than Americans throughout their lives. The average American for instance has never even traveled outside of their own state.
For myself, I visited London once - in 1983 when I was 12. I've never been back. And in the last 23 years the only states I've been to are California and Washington. Because most Americans don't deal with non-Americans, the measures we use are our only concern. Again for myself, when I do deal with my non-American friends I try to deal in their terms. But that's just me.
Finally, I'll just mention that I work for a company that creates scorecards and yardage books for golf course worldwide. That I know of, there is only one or two golf courses that I've worked on that have their yardage books in meters. But both those courses also offer the same yardage book in yards.
Maybe worldwide, golf courses are a special exception, IDK.
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I've traveled and dealt with people all around the world.
I still don't get my panties all twisted up over another country's system of measurement, unit of currency or other such things. Not my country, not my business.
Worrying or complaining about it strikes me as less reasonable than worrying or complaining about the fact that they may use a different language or drive on the other side of the road. I don't worry or complain about those things either.
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I might suggest that you never visit Phoenix, Arizona during the summer. Our high today is 99º and tomorrow will be the first 100º day of the summer. Sunday will be the first 101º day. The summer averages around 108-110º while August runs around 112-119º.
It's a dry heat here, but if 75º is warm to you, you don't want to be here in summer.
But once you get into the shade, the temp becomes almost comfortable.
Cottonwood will be 92 today and 94 tomorrow. Nice temps.
No thank you...I might suggest that you never visit Phoenix, Arizona during the summer. Our high today is 99º and tomorrow will be the first 100º day of the summer. Sunday will be the first 101º day. The summer averages around 108-110º while August runs around 112-119º.
It's a dry heat here, but if 75º is warm to you, you don't want to be here in summer.
But, but…Canadian Snowbirds!!!! Shorts in December?! Lows of 50º in February?! No snow?!
Ah, come on!!!!!
Yeah sorry... ignoring the high travel costs, I prefer bone chilling decembers more than ones that are barely a sanctuary from the endless summer that happens the majority of the year.But, but…Canadian Snowbirds!!!! Shorts in December?! Lows of 50º in February?! No snow?!
Ah, come on!!!!!
Obviously this horse has been beaten into a phyllo sheet.
We could argue our personal opinions until the cows come home, but nothing will change until a coordinated world consensus happens (and good luck ever getting that!).
We could argue our personal opinions until the cows come home, but nothing will change until a coordinated world consensus happens (and good luck ever getting that!).
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Amazing how passionate some people are about someone else's system of measurements.
The point is it's not "someone else's" unit of measure. The rest of the world has to accommodate our system since they have to trade with us.
Not so. American engineering firms I work with send everything in millimetres because its the worldwide universal standard. Its only really your garage enthusiasts who insist on measuring everything in 7/16" or whatever.
Here in the UK we do however have a happy medium of both co-existing and culturally there are certain measurements attached to certain things, for example I might buy a 2 litre bottle of fizzy pop from the shop but a pint of beer in the pub. I would also buy a 'quarter' of sweets from the shop, a quarter-pound.
If the OP wants to get really irate lets talk about recipes. I'm not talking about pounds and ounces. No, I'm talking about the hideously generic 'Cups' measurements. Now I don't mind it for a few recipes because its just a ratio of volume rather than weight. No, its when the recipe says '4 Cups Flour, 2 Cups Sugar, 2 Eggs'. Eggs are not standard but come within an acceptable weight range. A cup could be any damned size, from a pint glass to a shot glass. How do you make anything this way?!
The MMDDYY thing would be less annoying if Hollywood didn't keep putting it on their localised posters.
Oh....what a shame!!!
It's not as if the US has to accommodate the various laws of other countries when trading with them or anything.
A "cup" has a defined measurement associated with it. It's 8 fluid ounces or 237 mL.
A "cup" has a defined measurement associated with it. It's 8 fluid ounces or 237 mL.
A metric cup is 250 mL.
Oh, yes, a heartfelt and profound amen to that.
As a literal minded European, (and yes, completely fluent and indeed, bilingual, in both Imperial and Metric systems, pounds and ounces, or kilos and mgs, pints, or litres, kms vs miles, fahrenheit or celsius, and so on) I had always assumed - when reading American recipes while becoming increasingly baffled - that this thing that went by the name of a US "cup" was just that, a cup, but couldn't quite work out whether this meant the Le Creuset mug I drink coffee from, or the beautiful Villeroy & Boch porcelain cup I had bought my mother, or some other cup. A most peculiar expression.
Fortunately, someone (American) on this very forum took the time to very kindly enlighten me as to what this term meant as it was a complete mystery to me, and I still blink in bewilderment whenever I lay eyes on it.
FWIW, teaspoon and tablespoon also have defined and fixed quantities (;
But a teaspoon and a tablespoon are standard sizes; to a European ear (and eye) a "cup" is nothing of the sort.
In my experience, as long as the proportions, or ratios, remain consistent within a specific recipe, it doesn't really matter, especially for relaxed cooking.
In fact, the only time it - exact measurements - really does, or do, matter is when baking, where precision is called for, for baking is a fairly exacting and exceedingly unforgiving style of cooking, one which demands much of the chef.
In fact, the only time it - exact measurements - really does, or do, matter is when baking, where precision is called for, for baking is a fairly exacting and exceedingly unforgiving style of cooking, one which demands much of the chef.
BOOHOO! I can read metric and English recipes equally well. Measurements of both kinds in my house...
At work, we use both 12 and 24 hour clocks.... OMG.. But there are hardly any actual 24-hour wall clocks around. Still, we figure it out.
I suppose it would be a bit more annoying if you don't have an actual measuring "cup" in the kitchen drawer. I will give you that.
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What I find annoying anymore is the absolutist attitude of the pro-Metric evangelists. For a group of people who otherwise want rabid acceptance of a wide array of viewpoints religions, and lifestyles; they've got a somewhat religious affinity for measurement monotheism!
Hopefully, this person also explained that there is a difference in (American) measuring cups when using wet or dry ingredients…
On the left (green) would be your measuring cups for dry ingredients such as flour, sugar, rice, etc. The Pyrex cup on the right measures liquids (and all the marks on it are set for wet measures).
Hopefully, this person also explained that there is a difference in measuring cups when using wet or dry ingredients…
View attachment 2197492
On the left (green) would be your measuring cups for dry ingredients such as flour, sugar, rice, etc. The Pyrex cup on the right measures liquids (and all the marks on it are set for wet measures).
Actually, no, as I recall, now that you mention it, they didn't.
But, at least I now know that this particular term denotes some sort of specific measure whenever I come across it in an American cook book, or recipe.
However, it used to perplex me; I couldn't understand how something so imprecise, so inexact, so vague - as a "cup" - could have been utilised as a means of measurement for the purposes of following a recipe when preparing something to eat.
I'd also mention, not recipes, but medicine. Up until about the early 90s most cough syrup bottles in the US had the measurements by tablespoon. But this did not literally mean take out a 1tbsp measuring cup and use that. You could and it would be accurate, but unless you were American you wouldn't get what the manufacturer meant.
The volume of an American spoon used to eat soup, cereal, etc, is roughly equivalent to a tablespoon. Since most Americans have spoons, that's how you took your cough medicine or other liquid medication. Grab a spoon out of the drawer, fill it with the medication and put it in your mouth.
But along came ml measurements around that time and soon enough the manufacturers started including dosing cups because Americans had no f*ing idea how much 15 or 30ml was. Now you get a dosing cup with every purchase.
You can still cheat though if those are all dirty. It's a rough measurement, but 30ml is about one large spoon, whereas 15ml would be roughly a smaller spoon.