August 13, 2008

*Ask Jen: Size Matters Edition

Jim writes, "How did 12 ounces become the standards size for a canned/bottled beverage? Is the standard different in other countries?"

How many inches are in a foot? American bottlers tend to favor multiples of 4...8 ounces, 16 ounces, 20 ounces, 24 ounces...you get the idea. My bottle of Diet Pepsi Max here is 24 fluid ounces of highly caffeinated awesomeness. It's also marked as being 1.5 pints and 710 milliliters. Whatever that means. Canadians have the same sized cans and bottles we do because their southern neighbors are highly influential. If they want to keep getting their American soft drinks, they'll just keep quiet.

Europeans get all metric with it, as you'd expect. Whether the actual sizes are the same, I couldn't tell you because as an American I refuse to acknowledge metric...or calculate any conversions of the same.

Do you have a question for me? You can e-mail it. If I know the answer, I'll answer it. If I don't know the answer, I might make something up.

Posted by Jennifer at August 13, 2008 09:00 AM | TrackBack



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