At 12 03 05, 11:06 AM, Philip S Hall wrote: >I will point out though that in metric countries old unit names are >sometimes retained (informally) but they refer to rational metric >quantities. For example the pint (in various langages) is still spoken of in >Continental Europe but actually means half a litre, as does 'pound' (pfund >etc) refer to 500 g.
Well, this type of accommodation by the "masses" to a society changing long-established measurement systems is not in the least surprising. That said, I really do not know if the cups and tablespoons that were used in pre-Communist Russia were the same as used today in the USA, nor do I know whether the cups & tablespoons in my Russian friend's recipe (~1992) were USA cups and tablespoons, or "metric" cups and tablespoons. (Not that there is a significant difference between a USA tablespoon and 15 mL.) Perhaps someone on the list can enlighten us. Jim Jim Elwell, CAMS Electrical Engineer Industrial manufacturing manager Salt Lake City, Utah, USA www.qsicorp.com
