WilliamRocket constantly asks why America doesn't use the metric system. I never wanted to put in the time Googling it for him, but Lost in the Pond has a pretty good explanation, and it's entertaining, too.
From the YouTube comments, I learned that while many countries use recipe ingredients by weight, the US uses volume, because Fannie Farmer's The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, published in 1896, was the first popular cookbook in America to give measurements for ingredients. Farmer figured that more cooks had measuring cups than had the more expensive kitchen scales. Besides, it's nice to scoop and measure at the same time. The exception is meat, which is still measured by weight.
Tuesday, August 10, 2021
Why Doesn't America Use the Metric System?
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7 comments:
Ah, so, like acceptance of god's smelly little happy herb, y'all are going to go metric, state by state ?
I like to think my efforts have eased the process some.
No, please, don't thank me ! Lol.
It isn't nice however to do the clean up of scooping and measuring. Using a scale declutters and streamlines the baking process. I'd never go back to the way I was taught, back in the 60's.
This ignores the difference between the US volume measurements and the "Imperial" standards.
i.e. An "imperial" quart is 40 ounces not 36.
This is why 55 Gallon drums exist. It is where all 3 standards meeet.
44 Imperial gallons = 55 US Gallons = 200 Litres.
So explain the difference between the British imperial system and the US imperial system.
( don't even think about the old Whitworth system of measurement for tools, bolts etc = Think old MG's, AH Bug eye Sprites, and BSA motorcycles.
Learned something new today- about 55 Gallon drums! Thanks for the info, anynameleft!
Well, we do have 1L and 2L (and sometimes 3L) bottles for soft drinks, .5L, 1L, and 1.5 L bottles for water, and .750mLand 1L bottles for liquor. Plus our monetary system was metric long before that of the Brits.
It all stopped here when some bureaucrat in DC calculated his wife's measurements in metric. Full Stop.
Because we don't want to.
The logic of the imperial system explained.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7x-RGfd0Yk&t=37s
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