There was a movement a few years back to switch over to the metric system. It didn't take. We Americans can be a stubborn bunch. The one exception is soft-drink manufacturers. They switched to liter bottles and won't switch back. Why? A liter contains less than a quart. (I think.)
What size are cans of drinks? We have (usually)330ml for soft drinks, and 440ml, 500ml or 550ml for alcohol.
Whilst I am continuously baffled why the whole world doesn't go metric, it is even worse IMO when countries such as the UK and the US (to a lesser degree it seems) insist on mixing the systems.
Since before I was born, UK schools have only used metric systems in maths and science. When you leave school and get into the real world, it's a whole big mess of miles, litres, ounces, grams and pints. To conform with EU laws, all foods must be labled in metric weights, but most show Imperial as well, and many market stalls or deli-counters will sell 'by-the-pound' and not 'by-the-kilo'. A chap in Sunderland was/is being prosecuted for refusing to sell fruit & veg from his market stall in Metric measures.
Canned soft drinks come in 12 oz. cans. Beer comes in 12 oz. cans, and some larger sizes, although the larger cans are less commonly seen. I no longer take strong drink, so i cannot inform you correctly on that.
Phoenix, a liter is 33.8 ounces (3.8 liters=one U.S. Standard Gallon), so there's no rip off there.
GD, i've always found it amusing that the Canajuns have "gone metric," but still cling to many relics of the old system. If you go to a deli counter, and ask for a pound of ham, no one bats an eye. Many national chain supermarkets still advertise a price "per pound." All of the metric containers mimic the old pints, quarts and gallons, and the dry measure boxes which were common before metric, and still in use in the U.S. Soft drinks come in containers measured in mililiters, and exactly equivalent to the U.S. 12 oz and 20 oz. size. Older Canajuns also understand you immediately if you talk about distance in miles, or discuss the mileage of your vehicle. Some habits die hard.
We (UK) have most of the things you mentioned above - this very morning I bought some Metric milk in a 568ml container.
How big (in metric) is 12 oz? I think an imperial fluid ounce is around 28.4ml, which would make 12 floz equal 340.8ml. So you are getting nearly 10ml more than us!
It must be tricky sometimes for Canada in matters such as these. Their only neighbour is the biggest economy in the world and uses US Standard, a sizeable chunk of their population would secretly like to be French and go Metric, and the rest are still remembering the days of Empire and British Imperial measures.
GD, I don't know about 12 oz, but the 20 oz water bottle in front of me says it's 591ml if that helps.
Cheers Mac. Now I am confused! I'm off to check some conversion tables.
1 Imperial Pint = 20 Imperial Fl.Oz = 568 ml
1 US Std Pint = 16 US Std Fl.Oz = 473 ml
1 US Fl.Oz = 29.6 ml
So a 12 US Fl.Oz can = 355 ml
Someone REALLY needs to sort all this out permanently and globally. I hope that Metric wins the battle... :wink:
More confusing stuff (drops, teaspoons etc) ... with solutions
here (a) and
here (b) as well as
there (a) and
there (b) :wink:
Cheers Walter! I've got conversion tables coming out of my ears...!
I've had my fill of metric, imperial and US standard for now. Let's try something different...
What is the purpose in high school proms, prom queens (and whatever the guy is called), the valedictorian etc? When we leave school/college at 16 or 18 in the UK, you get nothing except a reminder to come back at the end of the summer to collect your exam results. Universities and higher education colleges have graduation ceremonies, but our schools don't.
The valedictorian is the person who graduated with the highest grade point average in the class. He or she usually gets to make a speech to the graduating class. The salutatorian is the one with the second-highest grade point average. He or she is less likely to speak, but sometimes does (she did at my HS graduation, for example). Both honors should be put on the graduates' resumes, particularly if the High School was very large, e. g. to be #1 out of a 1,000-person class is a pretty neat achievement.
Homecoming King and Queen and Prom King and Queen are just popularity contests. I didn't go to either at my High School so someone else will have to explain the voting process, etc., but personally I always thoguht that part was pretty dumb and smacked of elitism.
Prom is short for promenade, and was originally a very elitist social gathering for the children of the gentry . . .
The purpose?
Nothing I can post without getting censored.
An aside: "Graduate" in Germany means, you passed your exams (mostly referring to engineer and natural sciences) at a university.
You don't graduate from high/grammar school, just get your final results/certificate/university-entrance diploma.
reconsidered, and
I gather I cannot post a blank message.
Ah. I graduated, as they say, but I get your point, Walter as to early hurdling not being real live graduating from a prestigiuous place.
Still, for much of the world, high school equivalency is a big thing. But then you know that.
The thing with high school equivalency...
it is so much just a start. from whatever angle you look.
Knowlege is long. Art, I guess, it longer.
Grand Duke, I'm cringing at the image you obviously are getting about the US. Prom queens and kings. Not much of an issue when I was in school. Maybe I was in a crowd that didn't care about such things. Now valedictorian. That was something to aspire to. My high school graduating class was well over a thousand students. Having the best grades from among such a group was an achievement. Second best (salutatorian) was nothing to sneeze at. I can't remember the latter, but I can still see the former standing in front of the graduating class and all the parents. A shy girl, making a speech. She did fine.
Roberta wrote:Grand Duke, I'm cringing at the image you obviously are getting about the US
Yeah, I know!
Like I said right back at the start of this topic, I've never been to the US, have been taught American history only where it involves the British, and so have to base all my opinons and assumptions about the US from TV, film and novels. :
:
Which is why I sincerely thank all those who have posted here and helped to nudge me from ignorance towards (partial) enlightenment.
Going to the prom is a Big thing for a lot of young American high school students. Often the girl will wear a ruinously expensive evening gown, boy will wear a tux and may even rent a limousine to take them to the dance. As the time gets short before the big day, girls without dates may worry about not being asked. The boys will squirm around trying to screw up the courage to ask. Parents just have to put up with it, and often provide financing that strains the family budget. Like much of adolescent behavior, it doesn't really mean much to anyone but the kids, and even then only until its over with.
Americans for some reason have a mania for graduation ceremonies. We have been doing them for high school forever, probably because until recently that was the highest education most people ever got. Ten, or twenty years ago, we began seeing "graduation ceremonies" from Middle School/Jr. High School, as students prepared to go to High School. I'm told that today there are graduation ceremonies, sometimes with cap and gown, for kindergartners getting ready for elementary school.
Personally, the only time I ever attended ceremony for my own graduation was for my Master's, and that was enough. My wife and I flew to San Francisco for the youngest son's college graduation, and to Washington for the oldest boy's Master's. I don't remember the boy's high school graduation, but at the time I was so involved in other career stuff that much of that time is now a blur.
I do hope that others who are curious about American ways stumble onto this thread. You've done good, Grand Duke.
