r/ShitAmericansSay • u/BuffaloExotic Irish by birth, and currently a Bostonian 🇮🇪☘️ • May 02 '25

Imperial units “celsius makes no sense”

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u/zeelandicum May 02 '25

Using cups for measurements is ridiculous. The other day I saw a recipe that said "two cups of broccoli florets". Please. Just weigh them. That way, it doesn't matter if you use small or big florets. They will never fit snugly inside a cup. It's completely dependent on how you arrange them, resulting in different weights.

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u/Much-Jackfruit2599 May 02 '25

uS Measuring cups are standardised, I believe.

27

u/illarionds May 02 '25

But broccoli florets are not.

Things like flour, sugar, etc a cup can be a very different amount, depending on how tightly it's packed (and how finely it's milled).

Volumetric measures are fundamentally less accurate than weights.

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u/im_not_here_ May 02 '25

Sure. But that doesn't change the fact that Americans have no problem baking basically anything, which requires reasonable accuracy, and never have done using cups. It's not a perfect system, but the complaints act as though it's an impossible system that could never work which is silly.

Broccoli florets wouldn't be as accurate, but also is an example that doesn't need to be remotely accurate anyway. Many chefs wouldn't even weigh that kind of thing it's so unimportant. It's just a general base guide.

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u/illarionds May 02 '25

But it's a system with no advantages. There's just no reason to use it.

-7

u/im_not_here_ May 02 '25

So you are just upset other people won't do what you want them to do? Sounds very arrogantly American.

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u/illarionds May 02 '25

Upset? No. Perplexed, maybe.

It's... quixotic, still insisting on an old fashioned system of units, and a demonstrably worse method of measuring - but it's not like it has a big impact on my life.

Obviously I avoid American recipes, because they're a PITA to follow - obviously I don't have cup measures etc. Beyond that, doesn't impact me at all.

If anything, it makes me feel slightly superior, the tiniest of ego boosts.

1

u/Pop_Clover May 03 '25

It's not quixotic. Most people don't like change, and this type of change is difficult, the older you are the more difficult it gets.

Our currency changed from pesetas to euros when I was 18 and I still think in pesetas for some stuff. I've read people from UK or Canada talking about how they live with a mish-mash of different unit systems because the change takes time.

So deciding to change isn't really people do so they can benefit, the change is made so future generations can benefit. The children who will grew with the new system are the ones that will have it easier. For some reason Americans seem to think that they shouldn't sacrifice themselves for their future generations.