Metric
I don’t get the American measurements? Honestly, the idea of measuring both liquids and solids in cups seems absurd, and the whole ounce vs fluid ounce doesn’t make it much clearer to me either. Apparently they tried to implement the metric system a while back, but nobody either wanted it, or could understand it. But it’s so simple?!
Anyway, after a long time trying to find a real recipe for American Cookies, not a recipe by a non American mind you, I was delighted to find out that there is a conversion for cups. Karissa and Spenser kindly informed me that you convert 1 cup to roughly 8oz and one ounce is roughly 28 grams, therefore, 1 cup is 224 grams.
Using cups to measure out weights doesn’t seem a very good idea to me, my only guess is that American recipes that use cups don’t measure out weight, but rather volume. Coming from the Uk, where only fluids are measured in volume this seems very bizarre. And, to make things even weirder, through more research I have found that a UK fluid ounce is different to a US fluid ounce! ARGH. Use the metric system already?!
Sorry for the lateness of the comic, it’s up Friday night because I was busy Thursday and quite ill today. I’d explain in further details, but, I think it’s suffice to say that it’s the kind of ill that’s “messy”…
Two more things. I mentioned once already, but if you haven’t already done so, check out guest strip, it’s an awesome new site I’m working on. And…. come say hi in the forums. It’s where all the cool kids are. All three of us.
July 19th, 2008 at 12:25 am
Aha; Nice little rant there.. but there’s no comic :O
Just thought I’d let you know ^_^
July 19th, 2008 at 12:37 am
GADZUCKS MAN. And just as I was about to go to bed. Lucky you caught that one! Have a shiny star. You’ll have to imagine it, because I have no actual stars to give.
July 19th, 2008 at 4:19 am
First off, I agree with you that the Metric system is both simple and incredibly superior to the system we’re still inexplicably using here in the U.S.
But do I really have to point out the fact that you’re the lot who stuck us with this confounded system of indecipherable units??? I mean, it’s called the British Imperial System!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_units
July 19th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Yeah, but when you grow up with it it’s not quite so bad.
A real gripe is when you are fixing a car and two bolts right next to each other use different measurements.
Ok, this one is 9\16 inch, and this other one is a metric measurement.
July 20th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
he still is in the hat! u should go back and edit them all to include the hat , and make this the first one dude!
July 21st, 2008 at 5:10 am
According to my measuring jug (I noticed as I made scones this morning… yay scones!), two cups is one pint - if that is of any help - but that is still in volume and not weight. Our recipes (Australian) appear also to use cups to measure everything. Or else they use tablespoons. Or other kitchen utensils. Instead of actual measure-er-ers. Which is why I have a measuring jug :) It is see-through and oven-proof.
… that is a very messed up rant about scones and kitchenware. Meh.
July 21st, 2008 at 6:23 pm
NEVER!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!!
August 6th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
You should try living in Canada if you think the States are confusing! We use metric and imperial here based more on mood then anything else. I read a recipe that used a cup of flour and 250mL of milk. My height is 181cm on my driver’s license, but if you ask me I’m 6′2″.
August 12th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
By measuring solids by volume one no longer has to figure out the weight of an ingredient.
It’s not that hard to use a ratio of mass to volume and get something useful to you.
(volume) * ((mass)/(volume)) = (mass)
September 17th, 2008 at 9:51 am
In response to THJr, I once had a recipe in which I needed to use 1 cup of bananas. From my perspective, a banana would never fit into a cup, so that means none. Should I check to see how much water is displaced by an average banana and then estimate the total? Obviously, though, I had to assume you’d cut it up, but how small are the pieces, then? How much empty space is between them? Volume just doesn’t work for most solids.
Anyway, I love this rant. I would love it if the entire country managed to swap to the metric system overnight.
My wife can’t handle fractions while baking for some reason, and it pains me to tell her she needs 3/8ths of a tablespoon of vanilla for a half batch of cookies or whatever, because then she gives this pleading 3-whats-of-a-what? look so that I’ll come measure it for her. Also, a teaspoon (tsp) is a third of a tablespoon (tbsp). Nevermind that the abbreviation is almost the same, but a third? Seriously?
I’ve got two damn sets of bit and socket tools because half of my crap is measured in millimeters and the other half in some fraction of an inch. Sometimes both on one piece of equipment.
Also, I hate having to explain to retarded Americans that a meter is longer than a yard. What’s a yard you say? Three feet. Yes, three. How…convenient? Nope. A mile is roughly 1.6 kilometers? So miles per hour should be easily translatable to meters per second, right? Lets check. A mile is 5280 feet, which is…wait, what? 5280? Wtf is that? Oh… I’m on a boat. That’s easy. Then we use nautical miles which is 6076 feet… are you kidding me? Screw that.
September 30th, 2008 at 6:05 am
Actually, using cups for some solids makes sense. Chocolate chips, for example, are easily measured in cups. Butter in cups would be weird, but I’ve seen it as tablespoons before which isn’t too hard. Honey too, though i’m not sure that’s entirely solid.