On Sun, 28 Apr 2002 17:42:31 +0000, Barbara and/or Bill Hooper
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>on 4/28/2002 3:01 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] at
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>> wines and spirits, for instance, are fixed. The
>> former may only be sold in the EU in 25, 37.5, 50, 75 cl bottles
>
>I find it surprising that the EU prescribes sizes which are 1/4 litre, 3/8
>litre, 1/2 litre and 3/4 litre instead ofsomething like 200 mL, 400 mL, 600
>mL and  800 mL.

Perhaps because these sizes have been used for decades (certainly for
wine - I can't say what non-UK countries used for spirits sizes). I
think also that 70 cl is a permitted size in the UK for spirits - I've
seen cheap, 'no brand' bottles in this size.

>The use of the 3/8 size is especially surprising and it is also repeated in
>the allowed masses (in grams) for grains, cereals, dried fruits and
>vegetables, and perhaps others.
>
>And I am flabbergasted (really surprised) at the list for coffee:
>57g, 75g, 113g, 125g, 227g, 250g, 340g, 454g, 500g, 680g, 750g or a
>multiple of 454g ... etc. Clearly some of this is just hidden POUND
>measurements (454 g is a pound and this leads to 227, 113 and 57 grams for
>1/2, 1/4, 1/8 pound, and 340 and 640 grams for 3/4 pounds and 1.5 pounds).
>And 125, 250 and 750 grams are just 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 of a kilogram.

The sizes in the two paras above are in UK legislation ONLY (see the
link at the bottom). This is what I said earlier about the continued
persistence of imperial sizes in the UK.

Chris

-- 
UK Metric Association: http://www.metric.org.uk/

Reply via email to