Hmm. a US pint = 16 fl.oz. a UK pint = 20 fl.oz. As far as I know, 1 gallon = 8 pints on both sides of the pond So a US gallon = 128 fl.oz a UK gallon = 160 fl.oz. 1 UK gallon = 160 / 128 US gallons = 1.25 Edit: Found my mistake... 1 fl oz(UK) = 0.960759 fl oz(US) So UK pint = 19.21 US fl.oz. not 20. Doh.
But more importantly, do our American & Canadian friends order a pint of beer or just ask for a large beer? Also, what about our Aussie friends? What do they ask for? A pint? or just a beer?
In the US it depends where you are. Some places a pint (16 Oz US) is the standard size and a "large" or a "tall" is 22-24 US 0unce. Some places 12 Oz is the standard size.
Reminds me of one of my favorite toasts. "Here's to the UK and the US, two nations divided by a common language."
I was shocked and amazed when I was in England and the petrol bowzers are in litres but the speed limits and distance markers are in miles. I don't know what is wrong with them poms.
All mixed up and probably messed up too. Might explain why a couple hundred thousand up roots and disappear down your neck of the woods each year, never to return. For you I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing, though what's left back here leaves a lot to be desired
I tell you what, if you pay to switch all the road signs to kilometers they might go ahead and do it. Gas pumps switching to liters is part of the gradual metrication of weight and measures system. (Petrol pumps switching to litres is part of the gradual metrication of weight and measures system.) That was easy, but switching all the road signs would be more difficult and more expensive. The only switch so far (unless I missed something special in the past 3 years) is that shorter distances are in meters (metres), such as a on a sign pointing to construction (road works). If they were going to switch those they might as well go the whole hog and change over to driving on the right. PS Our Aussie friend is writing about a gas pump or petrol pump when referring to a petrol bowzer. I'm trilingual.
It's interesting how words evolve and travel around the globe. "Bowser" was originally an American name for a gas pump [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvanus_Bowser]Sylvanus Bowser - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
The best way is to teach it to schoolchildren. I learned in third grade how long 10 meters is. That is how I visualize short distances in my head. To this day I still have a hard time visualizing 150 feet. As for centimeters, I use the length of my stretched hand, thumb to middle finger, as a guide. In my case it's almost exactly 20cm.
The above prompted me to look into things a little deaper. I was taught metric at school, yet we are still no where near totally metric. According to the following wiki article, the UK started metric in 1965, a few years before Canada, Australia or New Zealand, yet they have mostly converted over and we are still messing with it. [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metricification"]Metrication - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame] There's an interesting photo showing common UK food items which are metric and imperial - Milk sold as 2 pints (1.13 litres) for example. A lot of items have just swopped form imperial measures to metric, such as 392 grammes for a jar of sauce. [ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_the_United_Kingdom[/ame]
