39,327
edits
American Customary Measurements: Difference between revisions
m
Mass update links
(clean up) |
m (Mass update links) |
||
Line 28:
Ingredients in recipes are usually measured by volume, not by weight. (The exceptions are meat and produce, which are bought by the pound.) Most American households do not possess a kitchen scale. Because of this, kitchen scales are generally priced only for the upscale or gourmet market, and can cost significantly more than an accurate measuring cup (e.g. 50 cents for a cup vs. $30 or more for the cheapest scale at large chain houseware stores). Americans therefore tend to see British recipes as inaccessible and "only for snooty gourmets."
Prior to the early 1970s, American automobile engines listed their displacement in cubic inches. (The "409" that the [[Beach Boys]] sung about was a car with a 409 cubic inch engine.) American cars have been built using metric measurements since the early 1970s, when the energy crisis lead to the downsizing of engines and it became preferable to advertisers to describe the size in liters rather than in cubic inches. but since some cubic inch-based engine sizes are closely related to former performance they still pop up now and then. When [[
'''Temperature'''. The standard unit of temperature in the United States is the degree Fahrenheit (See below for Celsius equivalent). The boiling point of water at sea level is 212° and its freezing point is 32°. Fun fact: the distance between freezing and boiling is 180°; this was intended by Daniel Fahrenheit as it would make it easier to mark a rotary-gauge thermometer: 180 angular degrees could equal 180 temperature degrees.
Line 44:
Other coins are the nickel, five cents; the dime, ten cents; the quarter, 25 cents; the half-dollar (guess); and various editions of a one-dollar coin. The half-dollar lost favor after 1965, and the dollar coin never really caught on. 50-cent pieces don't even fit in most vending machines, though dollar coins are sometimes given as change in the newer ones. Those not accustomed to US currency sometimes find it counterintuitive that the dime is physically smaller than the penny, and all the common dollar coins are similar in size to the quarter. (Dollar coins were larger than the half-dollar prior to 1979, but the half-dollar coin is already at or near the upper limit of how large a coin a person wants to carry around.) The size disparities are the legacy of pre-1965 silver coinage - the dime, quarter, half-dollar, and dollar were made from a silver alloy, and the dime weighed (and still does) 1/10 that of the "silver dollar". The nickel was and is still made of a copper-nickel alloy, hence the name; most dollar coins minted these days are at least intended to look golden. On top of that, the dime does not say "10 cents" on it; it says "one dime", and you're expected to figure out that that comes from the French for "one tenth" - di(s)me.
It's worth noting that Canadian coins come in the same size, color, and denominations as Americans up to one dollar (they also have a $2-coin called a "toonie" that just looks bizarrely awesome). They're usually worth less and weigh less than American coins but are usually interchangeable to all but the most nitpicky cashiers and vending machines. In the mid-19th century, the U.S. experimented unsuccessfully with 20 and 2 cent coins, and had half-cent coins as well as mill tokens for the truly silly. As well, it was at one time common in multiple world currencies to physically slice dollar (or equivalent) coins into eight ''bits'' worth 12.5 cents each. This denomination has survived today primarily in colloquialism; a [[Shave and
Paper money, called “bills” in the U.S., start at the dollar. The next denomination up is the little-used $2 bill, which can sometimes lead to confusion as the younger generation does not always recognize it as legal tender. Next are the $5 and $10 bills. The $20 bill is probably the most commonly used in basic transactions, being the standard bill for ATM bank withdrawals, and is also known as a “yuppie food stamp.” Next up are the $50 and $100 bills. They're easy to misplace, what with being a thin strip of cottony paper, so don't! Unlike some other countries, American bills are all the same size and until recently all the same color (Black on white on the front. Green on white on the back. Hence greenbacks) In recent years redesigns have made some bills slightly more colorful as part of anti-counterfeiting measures, though still nowhere as colorful as Euro (or Canadian) bills.
Line 87:
Prescription drugs, on the other hand, are labeled in metric units, because the amounts in question are usually so tiny as to render the conventional units meaningless, plus the fact that we're deep into scientist territory here. One may occasionally find a medicine bottle with weight indicated in grains, though they're today extremely rare.
'''Drugs & Alcohol:''' Beer is generally sold in 6-packs, with 6 bottles or cans measuring 12 fl. oz. each. Some beers may be sold in loose bottles of larger sizes from 16 oz. (colloquially, a "tallboy") to 40 oz. (a "forty") Many bars often have pints available as well as pitchers for larger parties; glass mugs of approximately one liter are also fairly common, particularly in areas settled by people from southern Germany (e.g. the Upper Midwest). A pitcher of beer contains roughly 60 oz, or five bottles' worth. Some bars and restaurants specializing in beer will sell drafts in 20 oz "English" pints. Wine and spirits are typically sold in 750 mL bottles, 750 mL being the round metric number that most closely approximates the pre-metric bottle size of 1/5 gallon (a "fifth"). These bottles, as well as the half-size 375 mL bottles, are still colloquially referred to as pints and fifths despite their volume being slightly less than either. (These terms are more commonly used with spirits; many people just call 750 mL of wine a "bottle", though there are various archaic names for the larger sizes, including "Magnum" for a 1.5L, "Jeroboam" for a 3L, or "Methuselah" for a 6L, all the way up to the 30L "Melchizedek".) Spirits are also sold in 1.75 L bottles, which are colloquially called "handles" after [[Exactly What It Says
The alcoholic strength of spirits is described as a percentage of alcohol by volume, and, in the case of spirits, by "degrees proof", where 1 proof = 0.5% ABV. (Contrast British degrees proof, wherein 100 proof equals the point at which gunpowder moistened by the spirit is still capable of ignition, i.e. 57.15% a.b.v, or 114.3 American proof).
| |||