Sorry to resurrect a long-dead thread, but I was just thinking we need a new rhyme, something along the lines of "a liter's a kilogram, the whole world wilogram." Well, you folks can probably do better than that.
It's nice that a liter of water really is almost exactly a kilogram, and it really is all around the world. It might therefore be convenient to have a rhyming way to point out the accuracy of those two facts in contrast to the inaccuracy of this old saying. --- Martin Vlietstra <[email protected]> wrote: > > May the guy who penned the words "A pint's a pound the whole world round" > was using the same dictionary as the guy who called the United States > baseball league "The World Series". > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf > Of Jon Saxton > Sent: 28 December 2008 23:26 > To: U.S. Metric Association > Subject: [USMA:42219] Re: A pint's a pound the whole world round > > > James: > > Not squinting too hard at all. The part that I object to is the "whole > world 'round" phrase. I see a gross error based on a common > misconception that the rest of the world is tuned to the standards, > culture and mores of the USA. That the doggerel rhyme is also > inaccurate in the USA is incidental. > > I am going to shut up now because this is not really relevant to the job > at hand, namely that of getting the USA to adopt the metric system as > its primary standard of measurement. It is only an illustration of an > endemic cultural inertia and represents just one of the problems we face. > > > > James Frysinger wrote: > > > > You folks are squinting too hard. > > > > Again, I think that this was never meant to be more than a rule of > > thumb, a bit like "pi equals 22/7". > > > > It's made a bit cuter by the fact that both a pint and a pound contain > > 16 ounces, albeit different kinds of ounces. > > > > Jim > > > > Jon Saxton wrote: > >> I never heard that rhyme until I read it on this list. I assume it > >> is based on the idea that there are 16 ounces in a pound and 16 fluid > >> ounces in a pint. If a fluid ounce of something weighs one ounce > >> then in a sense the pint and pound are equivalent. Of course it > >> depends on what you fill the pint container with. A pint of naphtha > >> would be somewhat lighter than a pound, whereas a pint of mercury > >> would be much heavier. > >> > >> So what is the substance which makes the rhyming equation true? The > >> most likely candidate is water. So presumably the rhyme says 16 oz > >> of water is a pint or a pound, "the whole world round". > >> > >> I grew up in Australia using British pints of 20 oz so it would have > >> been plain wrong there and it is not surprising that the rhyme was > >> not part of my culture. Only in the USA is the 16 oz pint used. > >> Since 1824 the pint used in all other English-speaking countries was > >> the 20 oz pint of my youth. The part that says "the whole world > >> round" is simply wrong. > >> > >> Interestingly enough, the rhyme is wrong in the USA as well. A pint > >> is simply not equivalent to a pound. The USA inherited the pint > >> from the UK as it was at the end of the 18th century. The gallon of > >> the time was the Queen Ann "wine gallon" of 1707 based on the volume > >> of eight troy pounds of wine. Because the USA seceded from the > >> British Empire in the latter part of the 18th century it did not > >> adopt the 1824 uniform redefinition of the gallon as the volume > >> occupied by 10 lb (avoirdupois) of distilled water (measured at 62ºF > >> in air at a pressure of 30" of mercury *). The British ounce of > >> water by weight and by volume were established as equivalent. The > >> volume of a UK (Imperial) gallon worked out at a bit over 277 in³ or > >> 4.55 L whereas the US gallon (i.e. the old wine gallon) was 231 in³ > >> or 3.79 L. There are 160 fluid ounces to the Imperial gallon which, > >> as mentioned above, preserves the water weight/volume relationship. > >> A UK fluid ounce is about 1.74 in³ or 28.4 ml. However the USA > >> divides its gallon into 128 fluid ounces which means each fl oz is > >> about 1.80 in³ or 29.6 ml. So a US pint of 16 US fluid ounces of > >> water weighs about 4% more than a pound. > >> > >> So the "whole world round" part is not true in the USA either. It is > >> just wrong everywhere^. > >> > >> *Ref: R. D. Connor, _The Weights and Measures of England_, Science > >> Museum, London, 1987. ISBN 0 11 290435 1 > >> > >> ^This discussion only addresses liquid measures. When we bring dry > >> pints into consideration then we have a whole new set of ways for the > >> rhyme to be wrong. > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> James Frysinger wrote: > >>> > >>> I was fortunate in the 7th grade; our math teacher ignored the > >>> school board and taught us algebra. However in the 8th grade, we had > >>> a math teacher who started off by saying that he hated math and was > >>> just waiting until a coaching job came up at the high school (grades > >>> 9 to 12). The only thing I recall doing that year (apart from > >>> mischief) was spending untold hours memorizing U.S. customary > >>> weights and measures tables and key facts, such as the number of > >>> square feet in an acre. I think the rest of the year must have been > >>> spent on arithmetic, working percentage and interest problems, for > >>> example. > >>> > >>> One of the essential facts that we learned was "a pint's a pound the > >>> whole world 'round" and my parents said they had learned that in > >>> school, too. My recollection is that this was given as a "rule of > >>> thumb" and not an exact conversion and one easy to memorize because > >>> both a pint and a pound comprised 16 ounces (albeit of different > >>> natures). So it was also a reinforcement of the facts that a pint > >>> contains 16 fluid ounces and a pound avoirdupois contains 16 ounces > >>> avoirdupois. Yes, we learned all about Troy pounds and ounces, too. > >>> I think our textbook in that 8th year had been published in 1811, > >>> just before the British set fire to the White House. (I'm just > >>> kidding about the publication date; the arson is fairly well > >>> accepted as fact.) > >>> > >>> By the way, my father and his brothers had the same teacher for > >>> their 7th grade math classes and she taught them algebra, too. They > >>> recalled her as being old to the point of being ready for retirement > >>> at the time they had her. > >>> > >>> Jim > >>> > >>> Pat Naughtin wrote: > >>>> Dear All, > >>>> > >>>> I was looking for the origins of the maxim, 'A pint's a pound the > >>>> whole world round' when I happened on this reference at > >>>> http://makezine.com/16/diyhome_measure/#msg3308 where they say: > >>>> > >>>> There's a difference between a U.S. pint (16 fl oz) and an Imperial > >>>> pint (20 fl oz), which means that a pint's a pound only in the USA. > >>>> An Imperial gallon of water weighs ten pounds, which means, (if > >>>> I've got my old pre-metrication sums right) that a fluid ounce of > >>>> water weighs an ounce. Now, it seems that the U.S. gallon is also > >>>> different from the U.S. gallon, which make sense. > >>>> > >>>> Does anyone have any 'Rules of thumb' that apply to gallons, > >>>> quarts, pints, and fluid ounces in the USA. > >>>> > >>>> Cheers, > >>>> > >>>> Pat Naughtin > >>>> > >>>> PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, > >>>> Geelong, Australia > >>>> Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 > >>>> > >>>> Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has > >>>> helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the > >>>> modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that > >>>> they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or > >>>> selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources > >>>> for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, > >>>> industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and > >>>> in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, > >>>> Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, > >>>> and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com > >>>> <http://www.metricationmatters.com/>for more metrication > >>>> information, contact Pat at [email protected] > >>>> <mailto:[email protected]> or to get the free > >>>> '/Metrication matters/' newsletter go to: > >>>> http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe. > >>>> > >>> > >> > > > >
