4 ms·

Interesting how some measurements, in the UK at least, remain steadfastly in the imperial standard; height in feet and inches, body weight in stones & pounds an

by dazc 8y ago

Interesting how some measurements, in the UK at least, remain steadfastly in the imperial standard; height in feet and inches, body weight in stones & pounds and, of course, beer in pints.

orwin 8y ago
Yeah, and an imperial pint is half a liter, whereas the us pint is somethin like 0.46 liter if i remember correctly. Somehow, in France, "Pinte" is still used for beer, "livre" (pound) was still used recently in cook books for butter, and we still use some weird non-metrics mesurment like "corde" for raw wood.
- the_mitsuhiko 8y ago
  Not sure if French people use pinte colloquially how I remember it, but AFAIR a pinte in France is almost exactly one liter.
  - williamdclt 8y ago
    Do you mean "almost exactly half a liter"? Because "pinte" in France is definitly not a liter
    - the_mitsuhiko 8y ago
      Are you sure? Wikipedia [1] disagrees with you. > pinte 1 ~952.1 ml ~2.01 pint ~1.68 pint Although etymologically related to the English unit pint, the French pint is about twice as large. It was the main small unit in common use, and measured 1/36 of a cubic French foot. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Units_of_measurement_in_France_before_the_French_Revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Units_of_measurement_in_France...
      - williamdclt 8y ago
        Interesting! I suppose the pre-revolution "pinte" unit of measurement is different from the volume you order at the bar today. If you order a pinte at a bar, you'll always get a ~half-liter, without any sort of doubt. I'm French and I've heard of almost none of the units in those tables actually
    - vinay427 8y ago
      Not the person you replied to, but I believe it depends on region and terminology: > In Canada, the Weights and Measures Act (R.S. 1985), which has the laws in English and French printed side-by-side, defines a pint in English as 1/8 of a gallon, but defines a pinte in French as 1/4 of a gallon.[10] Thus, if you speak English and order "a pint of beer", servers are legally required to serve you 568 ml of beer,[11] but if you speak French and order "une pinte de bière", they are legally required to serve an Imperial quart (une pinte), which is 1136 ml—twice as much.[12] To order an Imperial pint when speaking French in Canada, one must instead order une chopine de bière. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pint#Other_pints https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pint#Other_pints
- vinay427 8y ago
  > Yeah, an imperial pint is half a liter The NHS and Wikipedia seem to disagree with you: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-support/calculating-alcohol-units/ https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-support/calculating-alc... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pint#Imperial_pint https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pint#Imperial_pint Google's conversion in search results states it is a half liter for some reason. Maybe it assumes "imperial pint" means "metric pint"?
  - pintman 8y ago
    Funny thing about the incorrect Google conversion...it's correct in the address bar drop down, but incorrect in the conversion table... I.e. if you start typing '1 imperial pint...' in the address bar the correct value appears. But use the actual google chrome conversion table and the incorrect 500ml value is provided. Have reported to Google multiple times but they havent responded. Previous feedback to Google (regarding google maps) was dealt with quickly.
    - pintman 8y ago
      Google have now updated this conversion to the correct value. The weekend seems a long ways off but I look forward to celebrating with 568ml measures of beer. :)
- carlob 8y ago
  Funnily enough I once got into a fight with the owner of a bar, who had an happy hour where the pinte would sell for the price of the demi (half pint). However the demi was the same size of the pint served in thicker glasses. He claimed that since France is a metric country he had no legal obligation to call half a liter of beer a pint.
chrisseaton 8y ago
I haven't heard anyone in the UK talk about their height in feet and inches, or use stones and pounds for weight in years. I couldn't even tell you what a 'stone' or 'pound' was in KG. I can visualise 6 feet though, being a typical man's height. I think these measurements have died out with the millennial generation.
- matthewmacleod 8y ago
  I honestly think I have literally never heard anybody in the UK describe their height using metric units. Weight is definitely more of a mix though.
tom_ 8y ago
Note that draught beer has to be sold in pints, so it remains "steadfastly" that way because it's illegal to do anything else. Poor evidence in my view for any theory that this might be somehow the people's choice. (Bottled beer is almost always 500ml. Newcastle Brown Ale is one of the few exceptions.)

by dazc 8y ago

Interesting how some measurements, in the UK at least, remain steadfastly in the imperial standard; height in feet and inches, body weight in stones & pounds and, of course, beer in pints.

orwin 8y ago

Yeah, and an imperial pint is half a liter, whereas the us pint is somethin like 0.46 liter if i remember correctly. Somehow, in France, "Pinte" is still used for beer, "livre" (pound) was still used recently in cook books for butter, and we still use some weird non-metrics mesurment like "corde" for raw wood.

the_mitsuhiko 8y ago
Not sure if French people use pinte colloquially how I remember it, but AFAIR a pinte in France is almost exactly one liter.
- williamdclt 8y ago
  Do you mean "almost exactly half a liter"? Because "pinte" in France is definitly not a liter
  - the_mitsuhiko 8y ago
    Are you sure? Wikipedia [1] disagrees with you. > pinte 1 ~952.1 ml ~2.01 pint ~1.68 pint Although etymologically related to the English unit pint, the French pint is about twice as large. It was the main small unit in common use, and measured 1/36 of a cubic French foot. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Units_of_measurement_in_France_before_the_French_Revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Units_of_measurement_in_France...
    - williamdclt 8y ago
      Interesting! I suppose the pre-revolution "pinte" unit of measurement is different from the volume you order at the bar today. If you order a pinte at a bar, you'll always get a ~half-liter, without any sort of doubt. I'm French and I've heard of almost none of the units in those tables actually
  - vinay427 8y ago
    Not the person you replied to, but I believe it depends on region and terminology: > In Canada, the Weights and Measures Act (R.S. 1985), which has the laws in English and French printed side-by-side, defines a pint in English as 1/8 of a gallon, but defines a pinte in French as 1/4 of a gallon.[10] Thus, if you speak English and order "a pint of beer", servers are legally required to serve you 568 ml of beer,[11] but if you speak French and order "une pinte de bière", they are legally required to serve an Imperial quart (une pinte), which is 1136 ml—twice as much.[12] To order an Imperial pint when speaking French in Canada, one must instead order une chopine de bière. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pint#Other_pints https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pint#Other_pints
vinay427 8y ago
> Yeah, an imperial pint is half a liter The NHS and Wikipedia seem to disagree with you: https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-support/calculating-alcohol-units/ https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-support/calculating-alc... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pint#Imperial_pint https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pint#Imperial_pint Google's conversion in search results states it is a half liter for some reason. Maybe it assumes "imperial pint" means "metric pint"?
- pintman 8y ago
  Funny thing about the incorrect Google conversion...it's correct in the address bar drop down, but incorrect in the conversion table... I.e. if you start typing '1 imperial pint...' in the address bar the correct value appears. But use the actual google chrome conversion table and the incorrect 500ml value is provided. Have reported to Google multiple times but they havent responded. Previous feedback to Google (regarding google maps) was dealt with quickly.
  - pintman 8y ago
    Google have now updated this conversion to the correct value. The weekend seems a long ways off but I look forward to celebrating with 568ml measures of beer. :)
carlob 8y ago
Funnily enough I once got into a fight with the owner of a bar, who had an happy hour where the pinte would sell for the price of the demi (half pint). However the demi was the same size of the pint served in thicker glasses. He claimed that since France is a metric country he had no legal obligation to call half a liter of beer a pint.

chrisseaton 8y ago

I haven't heard anyone in the UK talk about their height in feet and inches, or use stones and pounds for weight in years. I couldn't even tell you what a 'stone' or 'pound' was in KG. I can visualise 6 feet though, being a typical man's height. I think these measurements have died out with the millennial generation.

matthewmacleod 8y ago
I honestly think I have literally never heard anybody in the UK describe their height using metric units. Weight is definitely more of a mix though.

tom_ 8y ago

Note that draught beer has to be sold in pints, so it remains "steadfastly" that way because it's illegal to do anything else. Poor evidence in my view for any theory that this might be somehow the people's choice. (Bottled beer is almost always 500ml. Newcastle Brown Ale is one of the few exceptions.)