Except on that site, if you order something that has to be measured (rather than counted), the offering is - a quarter of a kilogram!
Interesting. Carleton From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Stephen Humphreys Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2010 20:43 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:47516] RE: Tesco grocery chain in the UK is (at least online) all metric "A quarter of" is still used in sweet shops too (usually you get a more accurate quarter than your friend got although if it falls over then it's usually fine). I was in Tesco and my wife asked for a quarter of something (can't remember what it was) and although the customer facing scale showed grams the server went over but quoted the amount in ounces and asked if it was ok! I think that's been mentioned before here but it does show how things stick - even if the equipment changes. BTW - there is a online sweetshop called http://www.aquarterof.co.uk/ _____ From: [email protected] To: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: RE: [USMA:47511] RE: Tesco grocery chain in the UK is (at least online) all metric Date: Sat, 5 Jun 2010 19:33:24 -0400 When I was there all the signage was in metric, but when my friend Barbara (born in the USA, married an Englishman about 35 years ago, and moved over there) went to the deli counter and ordered a "quarter" of ham, the clerk dutifully measured out 125 g. (Apparently "quarter" was a UK term meaning "a quarter pound". Yes, 125 g is more than a quarter-pound but everyone seems to accept that. Barbara shops every day so she doesn't buy too much at any one time. Must be the tiny refrigerators.) Carleton From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Stephen Humphreys Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2010 17:57 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:47511] RE: Tesco grocery chain in the UK is (at least online) all metric 'Waitrose' is an odd one. It's owned by John Lewis Group. And as you say many of their supermarkets use metric (although I cannot talk for all Waitrose's) however their upmarket department store makes quite an effort to who imperial as well as metric. A confusing message (if you take the politics of measurement a wee bit too far!! ;-) ) _____ From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:47507] RE: Tesco grocery chain in the UK is (at least online) all metric Date: Sat, 5 Jun 2010 17:31:38 -0400 It would be interesting to explore the website, but tesco.co.uk requires you to sign up for their frequent shopper card first, and they may not be interested in someone from Maryland, USA ... Last year when I was over there I didn't go to Tesco's, as the two major stores in Kenilworth that we went to were Sainsbury's and Waitrow's. Both were quite nice indeed, and better than most USA stores (Waitrow's was at a slightly higher level) and the only place I saw anything in non-metric was on the bottles of milk. The beer selection in both could be described as "died and gone to heaven." Carleton From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Stephen Humphreys Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2010 08:13 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:47501] RE: Tesco grocery chain in the UK is (at least online) all metric As far as I know I think Tesco online has always been metric (save for milk and pizzas perhaps). I've never said that the online bit is quite imperial - I've said the stores are - which continue to be where measures are a vocal aspect of a purchase. _____ Date: Sat, 5 Jun 2010 04:30:10 +0000 From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:47499] Tesco grocery chain in the UK is (at least online) all metric I forgot that I had registered online with Tesco's in the UK (one of the major grocery chains) and just received an email update from them. At least online I see that Tesco is 100% metric in all the web pages on their site that I took a look at in various departments. This includes the meat cuts packaged by Tesco itself in the butcher department. The only unfortunate part is that most of the symbols have errors, such as "G" for grams, Ml for "milliliters", etc. However, the nutritional information is all metric with proper symbols; the only (minor) exception is that energy, while given in kJ, is also given in parentheses afterwards in kcal (though at least this unit is less ambiguous than "Calories"). I wonder if the shelf labels and the labels at the deli counter inside the store follow the same pattern as the online store. Note that the online store targets Britons just as much as its in-store information does (i.e. the web site does not target residents of other countries). -- Ezra _____ Get a new e-mail account with Hotmail - Free. Sign-up now. <http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/197222280/direct/01/> _____ Get a free e-mail account with Hotmail. Sign-up now. _____ Get a new e-mail account with Hotmail - Free. Sign-up <http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/197222280/direct/01/> now.
