7 ms·

Metric inches or survey inches? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_(unit)#International_foot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_(unit)#International_foot)

PedroBatista 6y ago
American inches.
hedora 6y ago
I’m sure it inherits from the DPI your monitor reports. I wonder if any manufacturers let you specify which one you mean, or if it’s like drives, where they always pick the smaller one to make a few extra pennies. The standards boards should step in to avoid confusion.
OJFord 6y ago
Huh, I didn't know about this, that feet and inches used to differ across the world. If only they'd done pints, fluid ounces, and cups, etc. too! (Cups are particularly annoying: there's British, US, US Legal, and metric. The best recipe-following advice is that it's never going to matter. But it's annoying.)
- petepete 6y ago
  I thought the whole point of cups was that the actual quantity didn't matter, so long as your ratios were consistent.
  - irrational 6y ago
    Measuring by volume was from a time period before we had reliable digital scales. These days all baking measuring should be done by weight since it is far more accurate. I won’t even consider a recipe that goes by volume. Fortunately those are all written by amateurs.
    - progman32 6y ago
      For where precision matters, 100% agree. For people like me who just want something halfway tasty but also quickly, the convenience of volumetric scoops is compelling.
      - joe5150 6y ago
        I have a lot of junk in my kitchen drawers (admittedly a personal problem) and will opt for measuring directly from the bag into the bowl on a scale over digging around for that quarter cup every time.
        frank2 6y ago
        Replace "convenience" with "low cost of equipping the kitchen" then.
        iainmerrick 6y ago
        A set of measuring cups and a digital kitchen scale probably cost about the same. Just checked this with a quick search on Amazon -- most results are in the $15-20 range, with some available for $10 or less. (I dare say there are probably very cheap measuring cups available, and for a scale you’ll have to fork out occasionally for batteries, if you want to split hairs.)
        Symbiote 6y ago
        Mechanical scales were normal in the UK for most of the 20th century. Everyone I knew had one in the 1990s, from around 2000 people started buying digital scales, and I took my mum's mechanical scale when I left for university. Measuring ingredients by weight has a long history on Britain. The old, Victorian cookbooks use weights. https://archive.org/details/b20392758/page/698/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/b20392758/page/698/mode/2up
        iainmerrick 6y ago
  - TheSpiceIsLife 6y ago
    I have two suggest volume tablespoon measures. One is 15mL and the other is 20mL. That's a fair difference, but doesn't seem to matter a whole lot.
  - OJFord 6y ago
    That works if everything is measured in them. (At which point obviously you can call it whatever you want, it's nothing more than a ratio as you say.)
- Symbiote 6y ago
  I lived in Britain for over 25 years, and never saw British cups used as a measure. A recipe given in ounces and pints might be using Imperial or US ounces and pints, but a recipe in cups is American. (It can matter when something is in another unit, like "4 eggs".)
  - OJFord 6y ago
    They're extraordinarily rare in recipes for sure, basically only in old ones. But if you buy a 'cups' measure it ~never says which of the four it is, and it may well be there old Imperial size. (I have one. Was a popular one on Amazon, nothing obscure.)
- avipars 6y ago
  the whole imperial system is off and doesn't make sense.
masklinn 6y ago
The units were already defined in relation to metric units (officially through the Medenhall Order in the US though the OWM had officiously been doing that for some time, officiously through the Weights and Measures Act of 1897 in the UK as while it defined the meter in terms of yard, as the precision of the meter increased the yard followed rather than led), but different countries used slightly different conversion factors. Hence international inches, not metric inches.

PedroBatista 6y ago

American inches.

hedora 6y ago

I’m sure it inherits from the DPI your monitor reports. I wonder if any manufacturers let you specify which one you mean, or if it’s like drives, where they always pick the smaller one to make a few extra pennies. The standards boards should step in to avoid confusion.

OJFord 6y ago

Huh, I didn't know about this, that feet and inches used to differ across the world. If only they'd done pints, fluid ounces, and cups, etc. too! (Cups are particularly annoying: there's British, US, US Legal, and metric. The best recipe-following advice is that it's never going to matter. But it's annoying.)

petepete 6y ago
I thought the whole point of cups was that the actual quantity didn't matter, so long as your ratios were consistent.
- irrational 6y ago
  Measuring by volume was from a time period before we had reliable digital scales. These days all baking measuring should be done by weight since it is far more accurate. I won’t even consider a recipe that goes by volume. Fortunately those are all written by amateurs.
  - progman32 6y ago
    For where precision matters, 100% agree. For people like me who just want something halfway tasty but also quickly, the convenience of volumetric scoops is compelling.
    - joe5150 6y ago
      I have a lot of junk in my kitchen drawers (admittedly a personal problem) and will opt for measuring directly from the bag into the bowl on a scale over digging around for that quarter cup every time.
      - frank2 6y ago
        Replace "convenience" with "low cost of equipping the kitchen" then.
        iainmerrick 6y ago
        A set of measuring cups and a digital kitchen scale probably cost about the same. Just checked this with a quick search on Amazon -- most results are in the $15-20 range, with some available for $10 or less. (I dare say there are probably very cheap measuring cups available, and for a scale you’ll have to fork out occasionally for batteries, if you want to split hairs.)
        Symbiote 6y ago
        Mechanical scales were normal in the UK for most of the 20th century. Everyone I knew had one in the 1990s, from around 2000 people started buying digital scales, and I took my mum's mechanical scale when I left for university. Measuring ingredients by weight has a long history on Britain. The old, Victorian cookbooks use weights. https://archive.org/details/b20392758/page/698/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/b20392758/page/698/mode/2up
        iainmerrick 6y ago
- TheSpiceIsLife 6y ago
  I have two suggest volume tablespoon measures. One is 15mL and the other is 20mL. That's a fair difference, but doesn't seem to matter a whole lot.
- OJFord 6y ago
  That works if everything is measured in them. (At which point obviously you can call it whatever you want, it's nothing more than a ratio as you say.)
Symbiote 6y ago
I lived in Britain for over 25 years, and never saw British cups used as a measure. A recipe given in ounces and pints might be using Imperial or US ounces and pints, but a recipe in cups is American. (It can matter when something is in another unit, like "4 eggs".)
- OJFord 6y ago
  They're extraordinarily rare in recipes for sure, basically only in old ones. But if you buy a 'cups' measure it ~never says which of the four it is, and it may well be there old Imperial size. (I have one. Was a popular one on Amazon, nothing obscure.)
avipars 6y ago
the whole imperial system is off and doesn't make sense.

masklinn 6y ago

The units were already defined in relation to metric units (officially through the Medenhall Order in the US though the OWM had officiously been doing that for some time, officiously through the Weights and Measures Act of 1897 in the UK as while it defined the meter in terms of yard, as the precision of the meter increased the yard followed rather than led), but different countries used slightly different conversion factors. Hence international inches, not metric inches.