this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2023
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Say you have a recipe that takes three eggs but you only have two. Do you wanna do the math on what 2/3 of one cup is actually?
Ummm... It's 2/3 cup, and that is a standard measurement. But maybe that wasn't the best example. Let's say 2/3 of 1/4 cup. Well that's 2/12 or 1/6 cup which is far from common. However a cup is 48 tsp, so 1/6 cup is 8 tsp.
I mean it's dumb as hell but it does work.
The Metric system is easier though.
It's like when the crazy guy says it's easy and then pulls out a pinboard with pictures and string connecting them and proceeds to explain how it makes sense in his head and you have to admit that you sort of follow but also can't believe what you're hearing is reality.
The thing that drives me bonkers is that ounces is both a volume and mass measurement, and they aren't the same for water.
You can just say you don’t know fractions.
It’s okay.
They used to give out a little conversion rotary slide rule at trade shows. Pretty nice tech, two circles of cardboard pop riveted together in the center, on the top one the units are written on a series of rings, smallest on the outside, biggest on the inside, there’s a cutout along the radius so you can see the numbers written on the bottom one. Spin the bottom one so the unit you know is showing and the one you want will be right there.
I bet they still make em.
As a previous hardware store employee in Australia I can confirm we were given these as well, as a lot of our tooling is still in imperial measurements - particularly bits, tools, fasteners and the like. I think my old one is still lying around in a box in the garage somewhere…