Dear Brij,

What is *use of seer*? I have no knowledge of this expression.

If you mean that the use of 500�grams, as a substitute for a pound, would
facilitate metrication, I disagree with you.

Cheers, Pat Naughtin CAMS
Geelong, Australia

on 2002-08-27 00.34, Brij Bhushan Vij at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

> Hi Pat and John:
> Had this been considered and pound was 'taken' at 500g for daily
> commercial use; like we in India argued for *use of seer*, METRICATION could
> be imbedded into minds much earlier. Yes, for scientific operations and
> allied *exactness* the pound was to be 453.6g and used as such.
> It may not be late even today, if US industry is willing to gain from this
> concept!
> Brij B. Vij
> 
>> From: "kilopascal" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> Subject: [USMA:21926] Re: question
>> Date: Sun, 25 Aug 2002 23:41:36 -0400
>> 
>> 2002-08-25
>> 
>> 
>> Pat,
>> 
>> I see where you are coming from.  Britain, and thus its colonies, have, a
>> longer tradition of having a "standard pound" and thus this 454 g value is
>> more set in stone.   In all other countries where the various "pounds"
>> existed and varied from locality to locality right up to the time of
>> metrication, there was never an attachment to a "standard pound" and thus
>> it
>> was easier to just set the value at 500 g without any worry about what it
>> would affect.  And I'm sure there were few recipes written down or that
>> were
>> that critical that the incorporation of the old measures into the new
>> metric
>> ones didn't make much of a difference if they varied somewhat.  I'm believe
>> that even before metrication, any recipe, either oral or written, would
>> have
>> produced varying results based on where it was used, as the FFU varied so
>> much across Europe.  In this regard metrication made recipes more
>> standardised.
>> 
>> I just wonder how many Australian recipes would be off balance if the chef
>> used a 500 g amount when a pound is called for.  And since your response
>> indicates that my comments are not strictly so, can I infer that there are
>> significant cases where 500 g is used as a valid interpretation of a pound?
>> I feel that despite Australia's history with the imperial measures, it too
>> will succumb to the same "shortcuts" others have adopted.  Albeit the time
>> will be longer before all requests for pounds end up with becoming 500 g.
>> But, it will still happen.  It is just a matter of time.
>> 
>> John
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Pat Naughtin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> Sent: Sunday, 2002-08-25 16:25
>> Subject: [USMA:21923] Re: question
>> 
>> 
>> Dear John,
>> 
>> on 2002-08-26 02.16, kilopascal at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>> <snip>
>>> For example, if an Australian asks for a pound of ham at the
>>> deli counter, the attendant will weigh out 500 g on a pure metric scale,
>>> price it at 500 g and as far as the store is concerned only a metric
>> amount
>>> was vended.  The customer who has no clue as to what a pound is, just
>> the
>>> use of the name, does not feel cheated if he/she did not get exactly
>> what
>> he
>>> asked for based on the American concept of a pound, that is 454 g.
>> <snip>
>> 
>> What you say here is not strictly so. I will use your example to explain.
>> 
>> if an Australian asks for a pound of ham at the deli counter, the attendant
>> will weigh out 450 g on a pure metric scale, price it at the 'per kilogram'
>> or at the 'per 100 gram rate', and as far as the store is concerned only a
>> metric amount was vended.  The customer wants a pound. She is probably old
>> and she knows that for her particular recipe (which her grandmother
>> inherited from her grandmother) a pound is required. [It may also be true
>> that she is young and that she has no clue as to what a pound is � but this
>> is a digression].
>> 
>> Australian butchers have no tradition that a pound is 500 grams, so they
>> serve about 450 grams to those who ask for a pound. They know that they are
>> serving to a recipe size and not to an ignorant person. No doubt, in
>> nations
>> (say France and Germany) where 500 grams to a pound has been common argot
>> for a century or two, the recipes passed from generation to generation have
>> been quietly adjusted to suit the fatter pound. This transition has yet to
>> take place in Australia, but I suppose it could.
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> 
>> Pat Naughtin CAMS
>> Geelong, Australia
> 
> 
> 
> 
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