Marcus:
It's quite obvious that you are totally unfamiliar with British pub culture
or with British weights and measures law.
The accuracy of the volume of beer glasses is prescribed by law, with
penalties for violating that law. The same laws prescribe how the glass is
to be filled. If you watch a bartender in a pub filling a pint, you'll see
that the foam is allowed to overflow, so as to properly fill the glass with
the actual liquid. If and when they eventually move to metric sizes (more
likely 300 mL and 600 mL than 250 and 500), you can bet that the rules will
be equally strict.
Germany's rules are just as strict. For example, Pilsener ("Pils") glasses
have an engraved line and must be filled at least to the indicated level.
Rather than waste the foam, German bartenders allow it to settle and top up
as necessary. Sometimes that process takes several minutes (giving rise to
the term "Sieben Minuten Pils" -- seven-minute Pilsener).
Bill Potts, CMS
Roseville, CA
http://metric1.org [SI Navigator]
>-----Original Message-----
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
>Behalf Of Ma Be
>Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 09:52
>To: U.S. Metric Association
>Subject: [USMA:21853] Re: Dual labeling
>
>
>With all due respect to our British friends here, I find this
>rationale and excuse exposed below a pile of...
>
>I can't fathom for the love of me why this pint idiocy would be so
>important as to cause so much trouble for any other measurement
>unit to be adopted. Really!
>
>Do people *measure* beer glasses to make sure they're getting an
>exact "pint" amount (SIC)? (Then there is the "foam" situation,
>etc, etc, etc, which I will not get into...) Of course they don't!!!
>
>Alas, who cares if they call that silly pint-sized glass a 'pint
>of beer'. Fine, let them continue to call that this way, whoooo
>c-a-r-e-s???
>
>I'll bet my reputation that if a pub decided to use a new glass
>with a slightly different shape and all and one that would contain
>500 ml of beer (or when poured into somehow) the public would not
>even notice! Just like people can't tell the difference between
>71 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit (or perhaps even 73, for that matter)!!!
>
>Different shapes and forms CAN fool people as to how much they'd
>contain. And if the glass thickness can be used to help "do the
>trick" there is no chance in heck that the public would notice or
>be able to complain about it. (Unless, evidently, some lunatic
>would go there and actually test it! But then again, it can be
>easily shown that it could fall well within the margin of error, no?)
>
>So, this whole cultural thing about beer in pubs and
>blah-blah-blah is just phooey IMHO!...
>
>Marcus
>
>On Wed, 21 Aug 2002 10:13:03
> Markus Kuhn wrote:
>>"Wizard of OS" wrote on 2002-08-20 17:19 UTC:
>>> > For 'draught' beer:
>>> > Serving sizes must be imperial-only. Metric servings are
>forbidden. The
>>> > mandatory price indication in the bar must have an imperial
>indication.
>>> > It can be imperial-only or dual. Metric-only price indications are
>>> > forbidden.
>>>
>>> this is the stupidest thing I've ever heard!
>>> typical british!
>>
>>I actually disagree. The "pint" and "half-pint" simply are the very
>>traditional British pub serving sizes, and if you ever get to Cambridge,
>>I'd be happy to invite you for a pint. This is very much like the "Ma_"
>>and "Halbe" in Bavaria, where only few drinkers actually know or care
>>that these two common serving sizes are actually 1 l and 0.5 l.
>>
>>The word "pint" is in Britain an essential vocabulary, very tightly tied
>>in the mind of the population to the process or ordering beer. What you
>>could do in Britain is to metricate the pint by changing its official
>>definition from 570 ml to 500 ml, such that the English "pint" would
>>really become a translation of the German "Halbe" beer quantity.
>>Considering that this is a reduction in volume, I am sceptical whether
>>it would go down well with the pub population, even if the migration
>>cost (glasses would have to be replaced) would be relatively minor as
>>pub glasses are a fairly low-cost consumable and don't last that long
>>anyway. Metricating the pint would be easier in the US, where it is
>>473 ml, but they don't have a pub culture like Britain, so the size of the
>>US pint probabaly doesn't matter much to the population there anyway
>>(is my semi-informed guess).
>>
>>Cider is sold in the UK in the same way (same pint and half-pint
>>glasses) as beer, so the same argument applies. For milk on the other
>>hand, I don't see any compelling reason to keep the pint, as milk is
>>rarely ordered like beer in pubs, but comes instead mostly in plastic
>>packages of 1, 2, 4, or 6 pints, which can equally nicely be sold in
>>packages of 0.5, 1, 2, or 3 liters.
>>
>>Markus
>>
>>--
>>Markus G. Kuhn, Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK
>>Email: mkuhn at acm.org, WWW: <http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/>
>>
>>
>
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