Imperial or Metric

So that makes an Oz cup 10fl.oz. — i.e. half a British pint, whereas an American cup is half an American pint. Does this mean the Oz pint is the same as a British pint, or have they dispensed with pints altogether?

Australia is fully metric Bags so they don't have pints. An Oz cup is 250 ml, just under 9 fl oz. Like in the US, Oz cooks use cups to measure solid ingredients, such as flour and sugar as well as liquids. I only ever measure ingredients when making cakes and pastries or when testing recipes. Otherwise, I judge quantities by eye,smell and taste.

Switching from metric to imperial to US cups is second nature after all these years, but I still have difficulty stopping myself from expecting the weather forecast to give Celsius and Fahrenheit temperatures, plus the gas mark.

I have a measuring jug which shows Mls, fl. oz, Cups and Pints. I had assumed the Cups were US measures, but I've checked and a Cup is around 9 fl. oz, so it must be an Oz measuring jug!

Okaaay. That means I can't do arithmetic any more . I thought an American cup was 8fl.oz. so one and a quarter of those would be 10fl.oz. Do Australian numbers work in a different way from ours?

I agree about guesswork in cooking. It drives my brother mad when he asks how much, say, milk, to put in something and I say oh, you know, a generous splash or two. How much is that? he asks. Till it looks right, say I.

B. Mum used to say that, now I do, and now my son does .....

Bags Australian numbers aren't different (ho, ho) but US fluid ounces are. Also conversions from metric to imperial and vice versa are usually approximate rather than precise. So 250 ml = 8.7988 UK fl oz but only 8.4535 US fluid ounces. Of course you can still do arithmetic – just don't go there. If you are going to measure ingredients, just stick to one system and it will all be fine. However, a generous splash seems a perfectly satisfactory and precise enough quantity to me.

Surely if an us cup is 9oz an oz cup is 6oz

A US cup is 8 fl oz, jeni though (according to Butter)!

No, no - according to absentgran - sorry!

Just put ingredients for my standard loaf in the bread machine bucket. I use these units: teaspoon measure (5ml) for the yeast and salt, American cup measure for the flour, a 'chuck' for the seeds, a 'dollop' for the lard, and British fluid ounces for the water. The amount of water that makes a perfect loaf is almost 380ml but exactly 13fl.oz so that's what I use.

What's political about that? (see which forum this thread is in ).

yes I lived in OZ 1970-2 and adjusted very well to metric at age 30. But I visualise 75 degrees as my ideal temperature, all the Imperial measurements I can visualise as I said before, and yes 7 stone etc. 10/- for a packet of crisps help I hadn't thought that luckily I don't like crisps but what else is catching me?

Bags- dollops and chucks are my kind of measurements - lol.

It's absolutely fine for us individuals to mix and match - but as a nation of exporters- it may well have a cost. It is true that many European and other countries are getting a tad irritated by the UK's refusal to adapt. I know, again that this is not going to make me friends here, but it is the sad truth.

Countries selling to the UK will make any necessary adjustments to get the business- However a very different kettle of fish if they are buying and have many other markets to tap into. With negative growth at the mo- I don't think the UK can afford to be 'high and mighty' over Metric and other adjustments.

But I thought most things showed weights/measures in both Imperial and metric, so I don't see what the problem is. Do these other countries want us to completely abandon Imperial because they believe we think we're too high and mighty, and need bringing down a peg or two?

Not at all Anagram - but when it comes to machines, pipes, any kind of engineering, electrics, and any kind of engineering, architecture, etc - mix and match on an International level just does not work - and makes things too complicated and expensive.

Very different to us baking the odd cake, etc. (as said before I use both too as I lived most of my adult life in the UK and have many books in Imperial).

Yes, I do see that, granjura. It's hard to see why articles which are meant for export aren't made/measured to suit their intended market. That's just common sense, not kow-towing to Europe!

oh yes - just looked in the cupboard - there are one or two products that show ounces as well as gm - but the majority in gms. as they have been for a long time now.
I am sitting here waiting for Ben "Bad Science" Goldacre to talk on the radio. More or Less - brilliant prog on R4 about maths and stats. Ben heading for status as patron saint of science.