Newsgroups: comp.std.internat,alt.folklore.computers,sci.lang,alt.usage.english
Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!nntp.club.cc.cmu.edu!miner.usbm.gov!news.er.usgs.gov!stc06.ctd.ornl.gov!cs.utk.edu!gatech!arclight.uoregon.edu!news.sprintlink.net!news-peer.sprintlink.net!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news.mathworks.com!howland.erols.net!rill.news.pipex.net!pipex!uknet!usenet1.news.uk.psi.net!uknet!uknet!newsfeed.ed.ac.uk!dcs.ed.ac.uk!rairidh.dcs.ed.ac.uk!rwt
From: rwt@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Rainer Thonnes)
Subject: Re: Tablespoons (was: degrees Celsius)
X-Nntp-Posting-Host: rairidh.dcs.ed.ac.uk
Message-ID: <E5wLxt.Ht3.0.staffin.dcs.ed.ac.uk@dcs.ed.ac.uk>
Sender: cnews@dcs.ed.ac.uk (UseNet News Admin)
Organization: Edinburgh University Computer Science Department
X-Newsreader: xrn 8.02
References: <5c1brh$s9g@news.ox.ac.uk> <5cl5rq$e9g@newsstand.cit.cornell.edu>   <E4vq9w.4MA.0.staffin.dcs.ed.ac.uk@dcs.ed.ac.uk>   <Pine.SOL.3.91.970205121049.6477A-100000@lonestar.jpl.utsa.edu>   <5doarv$7p6@orm.southern.co.nz>   <01bc1909$4ebc61e0$19c6a8c0@arezzo.sky.bln.sub.org>   <KETIL.97Feb14094643@garm.kvatro.no> <5ecko9$e1m@dg-rtp.dg.com>   <199702182001.UAA29226@mauve.demon.co.uk>   <E5unn0.IIE.0.staffin.dcs.ed.ac.uk@dcs.ed.ac.uk> <5eevsn$n35@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 1997 13:39:26 GMT
Lines: 33
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.std.internat:7196 sci.lang:70603

In article <5eevsn$n35@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk>,
mnb20@cam.ac.uk (Mark Baker) writes:
> rwt@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Rainer Thonnes) writes:
> 
> >Those must be beer mugs.  Normal coffee mugs are generally reckoned to
> >be nearer a third of a pint, while teacups (the kind you sit on
> >saucers and only ever bring out of the cupboard when Auntie Flo comes
> >to visit) hold only about 4floz, i.e. a fifth of a pint.
> 
> The mugs I've got are all about half a pint, and this is the most common
> size, though certainly I've seen many smaller ones on sale which may be
> closer to a third of a pint. I have a pint mug.
> 
> Most tea cups are about a third of a pint.

I think this can be resolved by looking deeper into the meaning of "holds".
While it is possible to fit a half pint into a coffee mug by filling it to
overflowing, there's not much point in letting excessive spillages happen.
So I consider my mug full at about a third of a pint.  I think the independent
reference to this measure I've seen is in the instructions on sachets of
instant soup which are pre-packed in mug-size portions (a foul product, full
of MSG, which one can only appreciate when cold (the consumer, not the soup);
I only use them when sailing).

> I can well believe that some cups are smaller than that - about a fifth of a
> pint would be consistent with the way cafetieres are sold (mine is a "12
> cup" and does about five and a bit of my mugs). I think ones this small are
> normally called coffee cups though.

Those are the *really* small ones.  I shouldn't think you could get much
more than a tenth of a pint in one of those.  They fill them with what seems
like an emulsion of coffee, very strong, containing about as much caffeine as
you get in a normal mug of normal coffee.
