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When I brew a pot of coffee, I fill it with water just past the line that represents 2x the number of cups I want.

If I expect to drink 2 cups of coffee, then I fill it just past the "4" line. If I'm making a pot for multiple people and want 4 cups, then I fill it just past the "8" line.

I think this is pretty normal. To the point where we don't even consciously think about it. In practice, a "cup of coffee" represents two cups as measured by the manufacturers. The manufacturers say that 6 oz is a cup, but a standard American coffee cup is 12 oz.

I don't know why we don't simply make those match up.




> I don't know why we don't simply make those match up.

There are already so many units called the "cup".

If we do anything along those lines, perhaps we instead define a new unit, the 'mug', that is equal to exactly two US coffee cups (12 US ounces, 1.5 US cups, 1.44 UK cups, 2.4 lungos, 0.75 Starbuckses) of coffee.

Related: https://xkcd.com/927/




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