Well, there were two problems. The first is that 1/4 cup is at two different levels on either side of the cup. You could put that down to some of the ounces being Imperial and the other being American, but frankly, three sets of measurements on one single cup measuring device is one measurement too many especially because that 1/4 cup was too much soy sauce and even the “American” 1/4 cup was off. So finally, I gave up and bought a Pyrex measuring cup but for all I know, it has three sets of measurement on it too.

So if you hold the cup in your right hand — because you’re right-handed — you are going to be looking at the left side of the cup. Which is in Imperial ounces, old-style even if you live in Australia, the U.K. or some other previously British-occupied nation or territory. Does anyone \still use Imperial ounces? Because my previous measuring cup — Pyrex — had just metric and U.S. ounces, but now they seem be having some kind of contest to see how many kinds of measurements they can fit on a glass cup.

DURABLE AND VERSATILE USE: These measuring cups melt, mix, and reheat. Imperial and metric units sit side by side on sturdy, solid glass that ensure you can whisk, beat, and pour in the same place you measure.

It’s shockingly hard to find glass measuring cups at all unless you’re ready to plunk down $25 or more.

Almost everything is plastic. I hate plastic measuring cups. Alternatively, they are made from stainless steel. I already have a stainless set. I don’t use it because they are not transparent. Also, you can’t nuke stainless steel. Well, that’s not exactly true. You can nuke them. After all, they are your cups and you can do whatever you want with them including running them over with a truck. But if you put it in your microwave, it won’t thank you and might stop working. Permanently.

For that matter, you also can’t nuke the plastic ones. To make them even more useless and annoying, you also can’t run the plastic ones through the dishwasher unless you don’t care if they survive longer than a couple of weeks.

Speaking of being less than a great kitchen value, Amazon is selling — as measuring cups — sets of glass “beakers.” The beakers are titled “scientific.” Looking at them, several issues come to mind. First, the beakers don’t have handles. Try getting one of them out of the nuker barehanded. Also, to be labeled “scientific,” they are slathered with measurements all of which are on the wrong side of the container for right-handed Americans.

The American-made Anchor-Hocking cups also have the Imperial ounces on the left side. Right-handed Americans are going to be confused, especially as these were made in the U.S. where Imperial ounces have never been an issue. And finally, nowhere on the cup is there any mention of which ounces are which. It’s enough to make you go metric!

So after we all concurred that there was something seriously amiss with the brand new Anchor Hocking set, I bought a new overpriced set of measuring cups that only has U.S. and metric measurements. That should be plenty.

Seriously, who is still using Imperial ounces? Anyone out there still using them? If you’re yearning for Imperial markings, I have a set of glass measuring cups for you.

So here’s the “metric” story.

The French introduced the new measurements everywhere, and they were found practical. The first state outside France to adopt the new system and dump their old weights and measures was Helvetic Republic – today’s Switzerland in 1803. The Swiss are extremely clever. The next to follow was the Netherlands in 1816.

Other European countries quickly saw the assets of a new system and began to standardize their own systems. In many instances, the old units were given new, Metric, values: pound = 500 g, inch = 2, 2.5 or 3 cm etc. The Germans were the first to standardize their old system this way. Baden, in 1810, for example, redefined the Ruthe (rods) as being 3.0 m exactly and defined the subunits of the Ruthe as 1 Ruthe = 10 Fuß (feet) = 100 Zoll (inches) = 1,000 Linie (lines) = 10,000 Punkt (points) while the Pfund was defined as being 500 g, divided into 30 Loth, each of 16.67 g.

It could also go the other way. In August 1814, Portugal officially adopted the metric system using the names of units substituted by traditional Portuguese ones. In this system the basic units were the mão-travessa (hand) = 1 decimetre (10 mão-travessas = 1 vara (yard) = 1 metre), the canada = 1 liter and the libra (pound) = 1 kilogram.

By 1850, most European countries were comfortable enough with the new system to adopt it for everyday use and all adopted it, one by one. Belgium and Luxembourg (1820); Spain (1850s); Italy (1861); Romania (1864); Germany (1872); and Austria-Hungary (1876). Finland put together a Metrication law in 1881 and went fully metric in 1886. Denmark and Iceland adopted the metric system in 1907.

The last European country to fully adopt the new system was Estonia in 1929, ditching the Russian system. Greece completed metrication in 1959. Great Britain waited until 1965 and Canada in 1975. The LAST HOLDOUT is the U.S. for reasons unknown.

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