### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2004, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-hawking-move-over-the-fish-monger-is-now-lord-of-all-maths/234435/26 "2004-03-15T21:02:30Z")
Sometimes you need to walk a body through the process:
\*āHello, Iād like one pound of shrimp, please.ā
**"Coming up."** (measures out one pound of shrimp) **"There you are, sir. One pound of shrimp."**
āSorry to be such a bother. Iād rather like to have some of this for each of the next three nights. Could you possibly divide this into three equal portions?ā
**"mutter, mutter, grumble, grumble."** (divides shrimp into three packets, wraps and labels them) **THERE you are, mutter, mutter sir."**
āYou know, Iāve just remembered, I have dinner engagements planned for both Saturday and Sunday. Iāll only be needing one of these. Thank you so much.ā\*
---
### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2004, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-hawking-move-over-the-fish-monger-is-now-lord-of-all-maths/234435/27 "2004-03-15T21:08:44Z")
> [@Coldfire](#):
>
> Me: \ āIāll have Two Pounds of Ground Beef, then.ā
> RDGBC: āOh, OK.ā
>
> The girl puts the meat on the scales, until the digital indicator reads 1.048 kg. Her doubtful eyes meat my approving nod. I thought about educating her some more, but frankly, Iād wasted too much time there already. I paid and left.
:blink:
Please tell me that the scale had both measurements displayed - pounds and kilos - or else I have no idea how the ditz managed to get anyoneās orders right. Er, but then sheād just look at the pounds part and ignore the kilos reading, so why would she need promptingā¦
My head hurts.
---
### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2004, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-hawking-move-over-the-fish-monger-is-now-lord-of-all-maths/234435/28 "2004-03-15T22:28:02Z")
I didnāt examine it thoroughly, and itās been more than a decade, but Iād say the scale was in kilograms only. So, Iām assuming she knew āa poundā as we define it corresponded with 500 grams. She just didnāt realise that 500 grams equals half a kilogram.
Itās scary to realise that someone can grow up to be an adult in an all-metric nation without knowing what our unit for mass is. Especially when theyāre in a profession which involves _weighing things all fucking day_.
Yet, these people exist.
---
### Author:  [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-hawking-move-over-the-fish-monger-is-now-lord-of-all-maths/234435/29 "2004-03-15T23:37:51Z")
**Coldfire** , I donāt know how it is done in The Netherlands, but some 30 years ago in the Rineland-Pfalz of Germany there was a common measure of weight called a āpfundā, about a half a Kilo or approx an Imperial pound. It was very handy since a āhalb pfundā of fresh strawberries was just about the right amount to cover four servings of rich, un-pasteurized ice cream or use for a torte. It seemed like there were two measurement systems going on, metric and an older medieval system that was still holding on at green markets and service counters.
---
### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2004, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-hawking-move-over-the-fish-monger-is-now-lord-of-all-maths/234435/30 "2004-03-15T23:39:02Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#):
>
> _smack_ Donāt they teach you kids about density in school anymore?
A pintās a pound, the whole world round.
---
### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2004, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-hawking-move-over-the-fish-monger-is-now-lord-of-all-maths/234435/31 "2004-03-15T23:42:18Z")
SG, the Dutch system has the same roots. Officially, merchants can no longer advertise it as a āpondā (the Dutch word in question), but have to denote it as ā500 gramsā. In speech, the term āpondā remains, though. I suppose it is a leftover from days gone by, but at the same time, it clearly DOES mean half a kilogram. And everyone knows this - except that girl, on that one fateful day. š
---
### Author:  [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2004, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-hawking-move-over-the-fish-monger-is-now-lord-of-all-maths/234435/32 "2004-03-15T23:47:26Z")
> [@Coldfire](#):
>
> How DO these people manage to get to work every day without, I dunno, getting run over by 26 cars?
26 metric or imperial?
---
### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-hawking-move-over-the-fish-monger-is-now-lord-of-all-maths/234435/33 "2004-03-16T00:07:57Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#):
>
> A pintās a pound, the whole world round.
They get about $3.50 round here. (Insert Loch Ness Monster Joke here)
* * *
Fagjunk Theology: Not just for Sodomite Propagandists anymore!
---
### Author:  [@Ackafool\_Upnhere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ackafool_Upnhere)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2004, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-hawking-move-over-the-fish-monger-is-now-lord-of-all-maths/234435/34 "2004-03-16T00:36:53Z")
> [@Coldfire](#):
>
> Duh. Three quarterpound mls, of course. Which is about 333 grams, if Iām not mistaken.
**Coldfire** , I must confess to a certain inability to pick up sarcasmā¦
'cuz I was always told 1l (or 1000ml) of water weighs 1 kg.
---
### Author:  [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2004, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-hawking-move-over-the-fish-monger-is-now-lord-of-all-maths/234435/35 "2004-03-16T04:37:01Z")
I teach people like this. Correction: I attempt to. It makes me weep.
Imagine if you will a whole class full of [\*donāt say it donāt say it must be nice must be positive about my students \*mutter mutter]. I swear any denser and we would have spontaneous fusion.
At least I can now tell them that they can get a job weighing in a supermarket and it wonāt matter.
---
### Author:  [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2004, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-hawking-move-over-the-fish-monger-is-now-lord-of-all-maths/234435/36 "2004-03-16T09:22:57Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#):
>
> A pintās a pound, the whole world round.
Typical American definition of āworldā :rolleyes: Over here, a pint is 20oz and the rhyme is āA pint of pure water weighs a pound and a quarterā. A gallon is hence 8 pints or 160 fluid ounces. And it takes a man to quaff an English gallon, **Q E D** š
---
### Author:  [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-hawking-move-over-the-fish-monger-is-now-lord-of-all-maths/234435/37 "2004-03-16T14:30:22Z")
> [@Coldfire](#):
>
> Itās scary to realise that someone can grow up to be an adult in an all-metric nation without knowing what our unit for mass is. Especially when theyāre in a profession which involves _weighing things all fucking day_.
Lets not confuse the issue of the difference between mass and weight. We are not comparing kilograms with slugs.
---
### Author:  [@Dave\_D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_D)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-hawking-move-over-the-fish-monger-is-now-lord-of-all-maths/234435/38 "2004-03-16T14:51:58Z")
> [@Coldfire](#):
>
> How DO these people manage to get to work every day without, I dunno, getting run over by 26 cars?
Iām amazed people that dense donāt drop dead everyday because they forgot to breathe.
---
### Author:  [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2004, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-hawking-move-over-the-fish-monger-is-now-lord-of-all-maths/234435/39 "2004-03-16T19:03:11Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#):
>
> A pintās a pound, the whole world round.
Only at Wetherspoonās pubsā¦ Itās more like two and a half pounds in most othersā¦
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steven-hawking-move-over-the-fish-monger-is-now-lord-of-all-maths/234435.md?page=1)