Path: csiph.com!1.us.feeder.erje.net!feeder.erje.net!1.eu.feeder.erje.net!weretis.net!feeder4.news.weretis.net!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!mx02.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Lawrence Statton NK1G Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: What Would Be Your Ultimate Computer? Date: Tue, 17 May 2016 12:09:37 -0500 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 31 Message-ID: <87wpmslige.fsf@senguio.mx> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Injection-Info: mx02.eternal-september.org; posting-host="e49b058dc8d12a557a131d3a422fd9f1"; logging-data="3965"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX191o7G6zdJLrfaAotPC8xgL" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.4 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:0moc7L6GCRp3JgHmFrKyQBgKN6I= sha1:SsUKjm2lldY30sf+q7sBK5Myi7Y= Xref: csiph.com alt.folklore.computers:163747 scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) writes: > Charlie Gibbs writes: >>On 2016-05-17, JimP wrote: >> > >>> Depends on where you buy it. I've bought potato salad by the pint in >>> some stores, and by the pound in other stores. >> >>"A pint's a pound the world round." :-) > > Unless you're in england, where a pint is a pound-and-a-quarter > in weight, and likely three pounds in cost. Right - that's what makes the saying so wrong -- a pint of (water) is a pound exactly NOWHERE. In the UK where the imperial fluid ounce (of water at some specified temperature and at some specified atmospheric pressure) weighs an ounce avoirdupois, their pints are 20 of them, as you pointed out. In the US the US fluid ounce weighs (at some conditions similar to, but different from the UK defininition) One 128th of eight and a third pounds. (Look - a third! Did I mean "cut a pound into roughly three pieces and give me one, or did I mean the ration of 1:3 ?) Eureka -- therein lies the entire seed of the argument upthread -- the word 'one third' can have to subtly different meanings, depending on context.