Ok, I'm just coming back from a party where the following happened:

A friend of mine who was trying to prepare ravioli for us had bought a bag of 2/9 of a pound of parmesan (in words, two ninths!). She certainly didn't ask for that amount specifically, it must have been on the shelf like that.

She was supposed to use X ounces (can't remember the exact number) of it. She didn't have a scale (just because she just moved in with her soon to be husband)

Two ninths of a pound ? Sixteen ounces in a pound ?

What did the situation end up in ? "Ah, what the @#$%, I'm gonna use this much..."

The ease of the imperial system was jumping right into my face...

Ralf

The reason is obviously that it was a foreign product made up in lots of 100g, then translated into English.

If the packet had been marked 3.5 oz, the recipe's instructions would have been clear. Perhaps there's a need here for BWMA to produce a guidance leaflet for Continental firms using UK/US units, explaining how to best display units. 2/9 lb is clearly wrong.

How can 2/9lb be wrong ?
Isn't the usual argument here that calculating with fractions is easier and that the number 16 is better because it is divisible by so many numbers ?

Ralf

I did not mean that 2/9 was wrong in the sense of being inaccurate. It just isn't the usual representation.

Sixteenths are normal for pounds. Thus, the packet should have been described as 3.5oz (ie 3.5/16ths of a pound).