h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Something that many times create confusion in texts, cace recepies etc is the use or not of the metric system. I wonder which is preferred.

Use both. I would imagine metric should come first, with imperial measurements in brackets.

I would think that metric should be used by preference, as there could be confusion between Imperial and US measurements. A US pint, for example, is only 5/6 of an Imperial pint, or approximately 13 ounces.

I got the following reply from Ashley, when I emailed:

> "Measurements - Hmmm. Normally we would use metric but to be honest at the moment we use whatever appears in the entry and reference the superb entry on Units of Measurement (A471476)in the tags. This is also a case where the measuremnts should be relevant - for example if we are talking about speed limits in France, we would use kilometres whereas for the US and UK we would use miles."

Note that measurements being /relevant/ is a wideranging exception: it would include use of hands to measure horses, and teaspoons to measure recipes, amongst others.

hth

How many cubits to a furlong and how many furlongs per fortnight?

Ahhm but there should still be some additional specification -- especially in the case of recipes. An American teaspoon is much larger than an Australian teaspoon, but an Australian tablespoon is slightly larger than an American tablespoon.

I really think that the writer should provide whatever information is necessary to keep the information understandable by as many people as possible without getting too silly (ie, no need to use cubits in expectation of ancient jewish time travellers).

The same goes for terminology. For instance, since we were discussing recipes above, a recipe for meat pies should not only tell the measurements in Australian, US, and English measurements, but should also clarify other details where needed -- mince, for example, should be clarified parenthetically: 500g (%whatever% oz) mince (ground beef/chuck, hamburger meat) or should have a footnote appended to clarify to a non-English speaking reader (ie a Yank or Canuck) what exactly 'mince' is.

'Why?,' you may ask. 'Meat pies are extremely Australian -- using Aussie measurements is correct in context,' you may argue. Simply put, because aussies really don't need recipes for meat pies any more than Yanks need recipes for hot dogs. They can pick them up for a dollar at the nearest deli, bakery, or (if desperate) service station.

A similar approach may be used for non-'how-to' information as well, and for many of the same reasons. When explaining Manhattan street vendors to an American or Canadian, you can easily say that they are about 1/3 the size of a proper hot dog. When explaining this to an Australian, Englishman, Scot, Irishman, German et al, you shouldn't forget that they may have no clue what size a proper hot dog is -- even if there is such a thing as a hot dog (or similar inscrutable mixture of meat byproducts, such as a banger or bratwurst) where they come from, it may not be the same size. For a real-life example, ask any American what size a can of beer is. Ask them what size a can of Australian beer is. Ask an Aussie the same question (well, you don't have to be redundant -- just ask the first question). You will be amazed by the oddness of the American belief that Australians drink giant-sized cans of beer.

It should also be noted that while America uses a strange, modified version of the English Imperial measurements, and the English use both as they see fit but can only sell in metric, and Canadians use metric for half of everything, the other half being American products, Australia really has no measurement. The government says they are metric, but in all honesty Australia measures everything in whatever unit is handy (it's quite similar to their drinking habits, really). I've seen scales (of the toilet/bathroom/loo/WC/john/washroom/privy variety) with measurements in kg, pounds, and stone in Aussie. Therefore, there really _is_ no relevant measurement system there, despite government efforts. (It should be noted that 'officially' taking away stone measurements for girls' weights might cause widespread rioting.)

I always love having my often-doubted ignorance reasserted. Thank you.

Now, will that be half a bite, or a quarter of a bite?