# a pint's a pound for water and butter? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 1, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pints-a-pound-for-water-and-butter/484041 "2009-02-01T23:00:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kjckjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@kjckjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kjckjc)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pints-a-pound-for-water-and-butter/484041/21 "2009-02-02T21:42:41Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > It rhymes in the Bronx, where I’m from. > > Wuah 'uh > > Kwuah 'uh > > 🙂 I was going to say Jersey…but yeah. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pints-a-pound-for-water-and-butter/484041/22 "2009-02-02T21:48:01Z")
It works in Appalachian, too, but that’s because there, _both_ words have an R. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pints-a-pound-for-water-and-butter/484041/23 "2009-02-02T21:54:39Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > I’m definitely going to start using “a pint of flesh” instead of “a pound of flesh” whenever appropriate. Let me start up the Bass-O-Matic 76. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pints-a-pound-for-water-and-butter/484041/24 "2009-02-02T22:13:37Z")
Who the hell cares how much it weighs? How much does the pint COST! If it’s too much I’ll stumble to the pub down the street instead ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pints-a-pound-for-water-and-butter/484041/25 "2009-02-02T22:17:36Z")
> [@kjckjc](#): > > I was going to say Jersey…but yeah. I lived my entire life in NJ up until about 6 years ago. They don’t talk like that there. And _water_ certainly does rhyme well enough with _quarter_ unless you’re completely anal about enunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Iamametalrobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@Iamametalrobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iamametalrobot)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pints-a-pound-for-water-and-butter/484041/26 "2009-02-03T00:42:34Z")
> [@Mbossa](#): > > That must have been a while ago, because [we switched to metric over 30 years ago](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_New_Zealand). Nowadays a litre of water weighs a kilo. Simple as that. Your statement here is simply incorrect. The kilogram is a unit of mass, not weight; the weight of a liter of water varies depending on the local gravitational field, and acceleration that the water is undergoing. On Earth, a liter of water that is still relative to the surface of the Earth would weigh 9.8 newtons. It would weigh more if you measured it on a rocket taking off from Earth, and less if you measured it on the Moon or Mars, but in all cases would mass 1 kilogram. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pints-a-pound-for-water-and-butter/484041/27 "2009-02-03T01:07:37Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > We don’t take much notice of r’s either, but “water” still doesn’t rhyme with “quarter”. 🙂 I’m guessing you’d rhyme “quarter” with “courter” rather than “carter”, am I right? ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pints-a-pound-for-water-and-butter/484041/28 "2009-02-03T01:19:21Z")
> [@Iamametalrobot](#): > > Your statement here is simply incorrect. The kilogram is a unit of mass, not weight; the weight of a liter of water varies depending on the local gravitational field, and acceleration that the water is undergoing. On Earth, a liter of water that is still relative to the surface of the Earth would weigh 9.8 newtons. It would weigh more if you measured it on a rocket taking off from Earth, and less if you measured it on the Moon or Mars, but in all cases would mass 1 kilogram. Words have varying meaning. You often have to use experience to determine which meaning to use based on context. When someone says something weighs one kilogram it is understood that we are talking about the force that one kilogram exerts on earth in the places that humans can be found. I know it causes confusion sometimes but language is tricky. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pints-a-pound-for-water-and-butter/484041/29 "2009-02-03T01:20:04Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > I’m guessing you’d rhyme “quarter” with “courter” rather than “carter”, am I right? Precisely. > [@Mbossa](#): > > That must have been a while ago, because [we switched to metric over 30 years ago](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_New_Zealand). Nowadays a litre of water weighs a kilo. Simple as that. It _masses_ a kilogram, if you want to be precise. It _weighs_ 9.8 newtons here on the earth. I’m still waiting for gym equipment to be calibrated in newtons, though. Our stuff is all in pounds, since it comes from the States, and maybe if you’re lucky, there might be a mass in kilograms on the weight plates. In this case, though, weight in pounds is more correct than mass in kilograms, since we’re dealing with forces and resistance and all that. Add the fact that people still tend to speak of their own personal mass as ‘weight’, and typically specify it in pounds, and it’s just another example of the muddle we’re in. Pound-mass or pound-weight? Arrggh. And here’s Wikipedia on [the pint](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pint). ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pints-a-pound-for-water-and-butter/484041/30 "2009-02-03T01:24:02Z")
> **[Definition of KILOGRAM](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kilogram)** > > the base unit of mass in the International System of Units that is defined by setting the fixed numerical value of Planck's constant to 6.62607015 x 10—34 joule seconds… See the full definition > [@](#): > > 1 : the base unit of mass in the International System of Units that is equal to the mass of a prototype agreed upon by international convention and that is nearly equal to the mass of 1000 cubic centimeters of water at the temperature of its maximum density — see metric system table > > 2 : a unit of force or weight equal to the weight of a kilogram mass under a gravitational attraction equal to that of the earth ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pints-a-pound-for-water-and-butter/484041/31 "2009-02-03T01:28:34Z")
I always thought that the pint/pound thing was about **volume** , an idea that came from learning to cook at an early age. (16oz=pint, 8oz=cup, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pints-a-pound-for-water-and-butter/484041/32 "2009-02-03T01:33:47Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > I always thought that the pint/pound thing was about **volume** , an idea that came from learning to cook at an early age. (16oz=pint, 8oz=cup, etc.) It is. The adage is merely expressing the equivalence between a one-pint volume of water and one pound of weight. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pints-a-pound-for-water-and-butter/484041/33 "2009-02-03T01:34:19Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > Who the hell cares how much it weighs? If you’re hiking across a desert and you have to plan how much water you need/can carry, knowing that a US gallon is about 8 1/3 pounds is extremely helpful (well, to all us US non-metric cavemen). ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pints-a-pound-for-water-and-butter/484041/34 "2009-02-03T01:55:04Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > It _masses_ a kilogram, if you want to be precise. It _weighs_ 9.8 newtons here on the earth. Meh. I’ll stop using the kilogram as a unit of weight as soon as quantum physicists stop using the gigaelectronvolt (a unit of energy) as a unit of mass. Or as soon as I leave the Earth. Whichever comes first. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pints-a-pound-for-water-and-butter/484041/35 "2009-02-03T02:06:21Z")
> [@Mbossa](#): > > Meh. I’ll stop using the kilogram as a unit of weight as soon as quantum physicists stop using the gigaelectronvolt (a unit of energy) as a unit of mass. Mass and energy are identical. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pints-a-pound-for-water-and-butter/484041/36 "2009-02-03T02:11:50Z")
> [@Q.E.D](#): > > Mass and energy are identical. Modulo a conversion factor (e.g., c^2). But then, mass and weight are also identical modulo a conversion factor (e.g., the gravitational acceleration of the Earth). Granted, c^2 is a fundamental physical constant, while the gravitational acceleration of the Earth is less crisply defined and not, in some sense, of such intrinsic importance, but both conflations seem equally tolerable to me, in contexts where no significant confusion results. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pints-a-pound-for-water-and-butter/484041/37 "2009-02-03T02:21:01Z")
Granted, when you say “mass and energy are identical”, you mean “Whatever you see as mass, you can ‘tilt your head’ and think of as energy instead, and vice versa”, which is somewhat stronger than what I mean in saying “mass and weight are identical” [that there is a standard isomorphism between the two], but I think the tolerability of semi-ordinary language conflation is the same in the two cases. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pints-a-pound-for-water-and-butter/484041/38 "2009-02-03T03:11:29Z")
I’ll tell you what: the next time I can find a butcher who will let me buy a newton of ham, I’ll be sure to let you know. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pints-a-pound-for-water-and-butter/484041.md?page=1)