The thread for random single confessions!

[loopytheone]

Units are an interesting thing.

Over here, we usually give height in feet and inches. I'd have to google a conversion table if you gave it me in cm. Football pitches are measured in yards, cars in miles per hour, bras by inch, but virtually everything else you can use both inches or cm for. Younger people tend to know cm better, older people tend to know inches. If you tell me something is 10 inches long, I have to mentally change that to cm to estimate the length. On the other hand, I know the rough size measurements of various sizes of fat people in inches, and not in cm.

Weight for recipes is in grams. Weight for humans varies depending on context. In a doctors office, kgs. On scales? Stone. When you're talking online? Pounds. Stone and pounds are obviously interchangable for anybody with basic maths skills, and I can do the conversion pretty well. I guess pounds is what I think in terms of, but that may be because I spend so much time here and talking to americans in general. People usually talk stones over here, and my "jesus, I don't want to get any bigger than this" point is in stones, not in pounds or kg. Animals are weighed in kgs. From horses to mice, kgs/grams.

I don't understand why american's measure ingredients in cups, because cups can be different sizes and you can't be accurate about half or a quarter of a cup. Even a full cup, there is variation in what people think 'full' means. We do use teaspoons and tablespoons as measurements though. Usually with a description: 1 heaped teaspoon, 1 flat tablespoon etc.

Age definitely matters too. I have to do mental maths when talking to my mum about things. She wants people's weight in stone, and she wants all measurements in inches. She also asks me to tell her what the doctor scales (kg) says in "real english" (as in, stone). So that's a fun one to do in your head; (Y x 2.2)/14.

We never ever use fahrenheit for anything, though. Always celcius.

 

[Sonic Purity]

I don't understand why american's measure ingredients in cups, because cups can be different sizes and you can't be accurate about half or a quarter of a cup.

Sure one can: measuring cups (Wikipedia). Certainly i’d not use the unmarked one out of which i’m currently drinking leftover echinacea Immune Support tea, as that would engender exactly the problem you suggest.

I confess (see? I’m keeping the thread on-topic) i’m curious why many of you are spelling the unit of temperature celcius with a C after the L. My ’merican spell checker insists it’s celsius with an S after the L. My OS’s dictionary mentions Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701-44) as being “known for” that scale.

 

[loopytheone]

Sure one can: measuring cups (Wikipedia). Certainly i’d not use the unmarked one out of which i’m currently drinking leftover echinacea Immune Support tea, as that would engender exactly the problem you suggest.

I confess (see? I’m keeping the thread on-topic) i’m curious why many of you are spelling the unit of temperature celcius with a C after the L. My ’merican spell checker insists it’s celsius with an S after the L. My OS’s dictionary mentions Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701-44) as being “known for” that scale.

Ah, you're right, it is spelt like that. I don't have a spell checker or anything on automatically at the moment and I guess I've just always spelt it like that and nobody has ever pointed it out until now. In my defense, it is a 'c' sound in the middle and I struggle with spelling/typing in general.

 

[Tad]

When giving ingredients in 'cups' it is always implied that it is flat. But it is less clear on how packed in things are (for those ingrededients that can be packed down), which is an advantage of weighing your ingredients -- but of course just scooping up the flour or sugar an leveling the cup is easier than weighing every ingredient, and is generally close enough for baking.

I forgot about people's height. For whatever reason I really learned that one in imperial units, (feet and inches) and still have convert to know if 187cm is a tall person, or whatever. I guess because my parents measured us that way when I was growing up? I know how tall I am in cm, but I just don't have a good feel for heights in general in cm.

 

[agouderia]

When giving ingredients in 'cups' it is always implied that it is flat. But it is less clear on how packed in things are (for those ingrededients that can be packed down), which is an advantage of weighing your ingredients -- but of course just scooping up the flour or sugar an leveling the cup is easier than weighing every ingredient, and is generally close enough for baking.

Close enough for basic baking.....

As an avid baker, I admit to owning a set of measuring cups that I use for convenience sake for some standard, simple US recipes that work fine with approximate ingredients.

But for anything more sophisticated or when wanting to adapt and make changes to recipes I use my metric kitchen scale in grams together with my wonderful French measuring glass with grams indicators all around for the most common ingredients. Because that is the drawback of cups, since volume varies more than weight between ingredients, changing recipes is much less reliable.
Another advantage of the metric scale for baking/cooking is that liquids and dry ingredients with ml - milliliters - and grams are both calculated based on the same scale (1000 ml = 1liter & 1000gr = 1 kilogram) again allowing for more flexibility as well as precision.

From almost life long experience, I'm fine moving between both measurement systems and doing the mental math be it for weight, height, distance or whatever.

The only one that freaks me out and I don't use unless I really have to is temperature in Fahrenheit. The guy might have been a great thermometer inventor but his scale of measuring temperature is simply nuts. Setting the freezing point at 32°F and then having to multiply or divide everything by 1.6 is just unbelievably annoying.

 

[Shotha]

I find it useful to know both the metric and the Imperial systems for this reason. Most things are metric in New Zealand these days but when you are reading books, especially ones from the pre-metrication, the old measurements aren't such a problem for you.

 

[x0emnem0x]

Confession that perhaps I’ll delete later:

I’m poly. One of my partners is essentially grey ace and doesn’t really understand my kink, though he isn’t judgmental about it. The other absolutely does, is supportive, keen to explore it with me … and, shortly before he started seeing me, started a deliberate weight loss regimen after putting on quite a lot of pandemic weight. It’s a plan that he’s intending to stick to until he meets his personal goal. I should feel incredibly lucky and incredibly grateful that his own personal goal is still, in his own words, “significantly overweight”, and that he’s incredibly accepting of my kink relative to probably everyone else I’ve ever been with. It’s his body and his life and his choice, and I’ve done the same before myself, and I respect his autonomy completely. But I’m sad about it and I have wished, entirely unfairly, that he would stop so I could have even just a little more time with him at his unbelievably hot higher weight self. He’s a really disciplined person who is great at following through on what he starts and I have no doubt that he’ll hit his goal weight, and I just wish I could have even a few more weeks before he continued. I am not going to ask that of him, partly because it isn’t my right and partly because I don’t want him to think I’ll be disappointed or unattracted to him when he’s done. If he wanted to do anything differently to accommodate my preferences, he already would have, and he’s made his own choices. All I can do is be deliberately quiet about it and not try to disrupt it or show that I’ll miss how he looks right now, or hell, even how he looked a month ago. I feel like an absolute asshole for feeling this way.

You’re not alone. I’ve been thinking lately the last few years I’m poly as well. I know your pain.

 

[AuntHen]

IC that I love how people think they know you or have you pegged when they either have barely ever had a conversation with you and/or no conversations/interactions at all. Their assumptions are hilariously ignorant and so off track. What time have you spent truly getting to know or understand me?!? You know shit

 

[BigElectricKat]

Ummm...

 

[Angelette]

IC I never grew up on David Spade. (unless if you count that Disney llama movie) My first time watching him is from the Matt Foley sketch and I thought he was an actual kid...

 

[SSBHM]

IC that I can't cook (unless microwaving counts) so I'd probably be a terrible feeder.

Many good things to eat don't require cooking - frozen pizza, appetizers, chicken pot pies, pot roast, mashed potatoes, and much more can be delicious either from the oven or the microwave.

 

[Angelette]

Edit: I posted on the wrong thread.

 

[Donna]

I confess I have a harmless crush on someone based entirely on their taste in music and one picture they shared.

 

[SSBHM]

IC if asked to go get goodies, I'll buy some to bring back to share, but also buy some to eat alone on the way back, before having more when I'm back.

 

[Donna]

I’m far too old to be this bloody naive.