On 2009/03/29, at 2:45 AM, Jeremiah MacGregor wrote:
I'm sure Pat can tell us that the pint is still spoken in pubs in
Australia, but no one would use it to mean a specific amount and
thus the term has become generic.
Dear Jerry,
Sadly, it is true that the word, pint, is still used in Australian
hotels. And it is still used, as it is in the UK, to hide a long
period of downsizing by the beer companies in collusion with
government consumer affairs officials.
Let me explain what I mean.
Years ago when a pint was served in an Australia or UK hotel or pub,
the beer was served in a 22 ounce container to allow for a pint of
beer and for a suitable 'head' of froth. Likewise a half pint of beer
was served in an 11 ounce container to allow for the 10 ounce half
pint and the appropriate head.
Some time ago, in the order of 50 years I suspect, lobbyists from the
beer companies were able to convince legislators (or was it regulation
writers) that a pint of beer could be served in a pint container that
held a pint of water when filled to the brim of the glass. The law
makers suitably rolled over like little puppies to get their tummies
tickled and, in both Australia and the UK, if you asked for 'a pint of
beer' in the last 50 years you would have received very close to 500
millilitres of beer with about 70 millilitres of 'head'. I leave to
others to calculate this roughly 10 % gain in profits by the beer
companies deceit over this period of time.
The next part of the campaign, as I observe it in the 21st century, is
to downsize the beer glass from a pint (568 mL) to a rounded 500 mL
glass. Naturally to do this the beer companies will need to reduce the
size of the 'beer pint' even further. The Guinness company has already
begun this process with their 440 mL can designed with enough beer to
fit into a glass that holds 500 mL of air to the brim of the glass
before you pour in the 440 mL of beer and the 60 mL of froth. I have
noticed that this campaign has, so far, been tried in Australia and in
Singapore.
To answer Jerry's question a little more directly, it seems to me that
the use of the word 'pint', and its continued encouragement and
support by beer companies, is to maintain the illusion that drinkers
are getting more beer that they actually receive.
As a side issue, the word 'pint' is a relative to the word 'paint'
from the time that Roman soldiers demanded that a paint mark be used
on the side of (opaque ?) beer containers so that drinkers could check
that the level of liquid beer was 'up to the paint'. Paint was
gradually changed over the last 2000 years to the word, 'pint'. But
you will note that the rapaciousness of beer makers and sellers is not
a new thing!
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has
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