# What is the purpose of the US customary system of measurement?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-the-us-customary-system-of-measurement/659784>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 31, 2013, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-the-us-customary-system-of-measurement/659784 "2013-05-31T13:57:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 15

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**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-purpose-of-the-us-customary-system-of-measurement/659784/281 "2013-06-11T18:44:54Z")

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> [@tracer](#):
>
> D’oh! :smack:
> 
> It’s interesting, though, that feet and shillings were divided into twelfths, but pints and pounds weren’t.
> 
> It’s even more interesting (to me, anyway) that while the U.S. liquid pint was divided into 16 fluid ounces, the Imperial pint was divided into 20 fluid ounces. I love to mention that when anybody recites “A pint’s a pound the world around” – apparently the world does not include the U.K.. 😉

We had a similar rhyme: “A pint of clear water weighs a pound and a quarter”.

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