I used to get a bit confused with recipes counting in cups as the US cups are different than the UK ones, but I eventually came to the conclusion that it did not matter as long as all the recipe ingredients were all measured with the same cups, wether they are 250ml or 236ml does not matter , as long as the proportions are respected between the different ingredients.
4 Likes
One that gets me is the stone measurement for weight and the hand for height.
How much does a stone weigh? I have stones that are as small a fist and as big as a tractor tire. But then what size tractor tire. 
Asking how tall the horse is, it’s 15 hands. Who’s hand a child’s hand? The wife’s hand? Or my hand? Which leads to, are they sellng it buy the hand and what if I can only afford 7 hands, so does get sold from the ground up or from the front to the back of top down or from the back to the front.
4 Likes
There is nothing wrong with having your own system the problem comes when planes crash or space ships plummet to the ground because of a confusion between the local measuring system and the international one.
Don’t listen to any criticism from the UK about this, they are the example no one should follow.
Certainly sticking to one or the other is a good idea. Britain completely stuffed up both their decimalisation and metrication and ended up with a complete balls up of neither a imperial or metric system (you’d have thought that when they had to mint a half and quarter pence someone would have realised they had stuffed up and miles per litre?? Really?)
You are known by the company you keep.
3 Likes
It has to be said that South Australia with its high proportion of UK escapees has a minor tendency this way.
Whenever I go to a SA pub or club my first beer is always too small. What they call a Schooner the rest of Australia calls a Midi, what they call a Pint the rest of Australia calls a Schooner and to make it even worse if you actually want a pint in SA then you have to ask for an Imperial Pint (though it is a very long time since I have seen a pint glass in an Aussie pub or, come to think of it a 7 or 5 oz glass).
4 Likes
I never heard of any one measuring by hand I thought the Brits were measuring in feet! Whatever that is! 
3 Likes
Yes.
That is how I think of recipes which give ingredients in “cup size” - I presume it originated from the days when folk didn’t have accurate scales and measuring jugs, so providing you used the same cup or receptacle to measure your ingredients, then you would achieve the correct proportions of ingredients.
I thought a “cup” was roughly equal to half a pint or 8 ounces - although the set of “cup” measurements I have now do use 250 ml as the full cup measure, so maybe they have switched from imperial to metric now.
My Mum never owned a pair of weighing scales or a measuring jug and we didn’t use the “cup measuring system” in England - but she used to measure out her ingredients in Tabllespoons - 1 rounded tablespoon equalled an ounce of flour and she used the same tablespoon measure for all dry ingredients and liquid measures - the fat / butter / margarine was measured out by guesstimating the amount needed by slicing it from an 8 oz block.
She managed to bake excellent pastry, cakes, biscuits and Yorkshire Puddings using that system - and I do the same for recipes I have made all my life.
I only use scales and measuring jugs for recipes I have never cooked before, to make sure I get the proportions. I can see the beauty and simplicity of the American cup measuring system.
5 Likes
Hands are just for measuring horses - even though horses only have feet and no hands! 
One hand = 4 inches.
4 Likes
Bruce this is why I love the Brits , they are always one of a kind , different from the rest of the world (like driving on the left side of the road).
I guess this is where their charm lies among other things. 
2 Likes
LOL
1 Like
I think a hand is one of those strange measurements for horses. From memory it is 4inches or about 102mm So three hands make a foot.
Sorry didn’t see @Boot’s reply until I had posted
4 Likes
Ha ha… Yep, if there is a way of making something worse they will find it!
2 Likes
the most annoying thing is that a bread roll is called a “biscuit” and not only that but they eat them covered with a highly suspect-looking gravy on the plate with the other food - yes all on the same plate! Examples here - how is this appetizing?
4 Likes
There was much giggling at school about Australian “Durex” sticky tape
2 Likes
I’ve never understood stones, inches, yards and feet, even though I was born in Britain, grew up there and lived there for 26 years! 
2 Likes
Yes, that’s right, my mum never owned kitchen scales, she cooked and baked everything using tablespoons, different size cups and glasses, all recipes came out deliciously well! 
I’m not like that at all, I’m definitely a kitchen scale person, and also use a measuring jug for liquids, like @Surfermom 's.
2 Likes
1 Like
Same here; I am sort of OK with stone and inches but have absolutely no cue about yards and feets.
How do Brits count their swimming distance? Meters? Yards? I have no clue.
1 Like