In another discussion here I started questioning certain measurements. Tablespoons and Teaspoons, to be exact. I have a set of lovely measuring spoons that my husband bought for me a couple years ago (pictured below). I didn't question if they were accurate. They say TBS, TSP, ETC. I don't bake all that often and my cooking goes by 'eye', so it hasn't been noticed that these spoons are quite wrong. It may seem petty...but when I actually put them to the test last night I found that my tablespoon holds nearly twice the amount of a true measure. Due to the shape, etc. I had not considered that it looked to hold more. In terms of certain precise measurements used in glider diets that is a massive amount of difference. Thankfully my staple doesn't require that type of conversion measurement. I use cups and oz.

The pretty spoons will stay on their little hook from now on while I use an accurate set of spoons.

Don't feel bad about it. Truth is that the measurements used in the USA are a mess. My entire life I had been using metric units, then I come here and tried to learn English units, and my life becomes a mess, so I ditched them all and stock with metric. Believe me, life is so much simpler that way.

But as you said, the problem is when you are preparing the gliders' staple, which I leave entirely to my husband 'cause I would just end up making a mess. Kinda suck that the pretty spoons will now only serve as decoration, they're very neat looking.

I'm going to check the 1/4 tsp one because it may be accurate. If not...uh oh. Because I actually do use that one for their supplement.

They have always had a little hook to hang from under a cabinet so I'll still be able to love them.

Tell me about it...
I'm always confused in measurements with any recipe, over here we use metric system, and when converting any repice from english... american teaspoon and tablespoon are different from english ones, and I never know which of the two is the one the author uses!

So this is what I found regarding the English System of Measurement:

"Although a few of the English measures are still in use in Britain today, the country has officially moved to SI. Only the U.S. (which uses the US Customary System), Liberia and Burma have not officially adopted the SI standard."

From this, I'd say is safe to assume that the authors of the glider recipes are using the US Customary System, and as such try to use the American TBS and tsp. Because as Blue says, though it may not seem as much of a difference, in a glider's diet it can be huge.

There's been many talks about USA officially moving to SI, like Britain did. And though there's been some changes (for example I'm a engineer and since I started working I've never had to use English units), there's things like recipes and such that would be hard to change, and it can be very confusing for people of different background.

Sorry for the rambling. I had been following Blue's other posts that brought on this topic, and quite honestly I didn't even know that there were English and American TBS and tsp. And when I saw Candy's algebra I sort of said in my head: "Holy Cow! What is this witchcraft!". And for those that have watched Monty Python: "We found a witch! May we burn her?" No offense, Candy .

I LOVE Monty Python. I'm a dork!

I'm going off topic AGAIN...but my new little girl (dog) has these awesome big ears and they are so expressive...always up and down like crazy. If she hadn't already had a good name when I adopted her I would have called her Semaphore (the language using flags). Have you seen the Monty Python spoof on Wuthering Heights? Like, the girl is on one hill in the fog and the guy is on another. Basically it's, "Oh, Heathcliff...Oh Heathcliff" and "Oh, Mary (forgot her real name)..."Oh, Mary". But they're doing it in Semaphore going all crazy with the flags and then the subtitle at the bottom are only two words. Pretty hilarious. I also love "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!!!"

Face it...American's are lazy and stuck in their ways. Metric makes so much more sense...but, we're a stubborn breed!!!!