Richard reminded us that there are two different kinds of pints, and that "the US pint is the older measure".

My recall is that you in the UK had that older measure first (we got it from you), but later decided that that word should mean something bigger, 25% bigger to be precise. (The bigger measure you adopted is called the Imperial pint, when it's necessary to distinguish.)

Richard, can you tell us why and when this change why made? My recall is that it had something to do with avoidance of burdensome taxes -- a subject which would be of great interest. Perhaps your history can provide a useful tax-reduction lesson for us?

Accrding to Wikipedia:

quote:

The pint is defined as one eighth of a gallon. ... America adopted the British wine gallon (defined in 1707 as 231 cubic inches exactly (3 in × 7 in × 11 in)) as its basic liquid measure, from which the U.S. wet pint is derived, and the British corn gallon (⅛ of a standard “Winchester” bushel of corn, or 268.8 cubic inches) as its dry measure, from which the US dry pint is derived.

In 1824 the British parliament replaced all its variant gallons with a new imperial gallon based on ten pounds of distilled water at 62 °F (277.42 cubic inches), from which the UK pint is derived.

The article doesn't say as such why Parliament changed the size in 1824, but it looks to have been done as a standardisation measure. Before then, it appears, there were multiple measures for the gallon depending on the commodity being measured.

quote:

multiple measures for the gallon depending on the commodity being measured

Isn't that the definition of "cheating"?

quote:

Isn't that the definition of "cheating"?

Well if it is then the USA is cheating right now, since the American gallon used for dry measure is equivalent to 1.164 American wet measure gallons.

quote:

USA is cheating right now

That's "Big Business."