My favorite fact about Americans is that a 1/3 pound burger was created to compete with the Quarter Pounder and people didn’t buy it because they thought it was 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 due to being bad at math/fractions.
@Alice
Points to metric
@Alice
I won't say it excuses general ignorance but 1/3 doesn't follow the "negative power of two" divisor scheme we generally follow where if the cut isn't accurate enough we split the difference again. Not that anyone would know inherently whether a 5/8 or a 7/16 pound burger weighs more
bonifartius 𒂼𒄄
@RnDanger @Alice i'm euro, but knowing that most of the imperial system is using fractions the story sounds a bit like the usual euro "haha americans are dumb!!" thing we make to feel ourself better about being irrelevant now.
imho, for some things like cooking fractions are great. much more easy to eyeball than "x grams of"
@bonifartius @Alice
I think it was a system made for illiterate people using available things. Any cup can measure a cup and you know what half of that is, for example. If your cup is bigger than your neighbor's, you still get the right proportion.
@bonifartius @Alice aye, indeed