*Floors in buildings* - in France street level is numbered ”0” and called ”rez de chaussée” (”0” and ”ground floor” in UK). Right upstair is ”1er étage” (UK: ”1st floor”) and so on. - in US street level is called ”first floor”, then second, third etc. I think the difference is the meaning of: - floor: a surface you walk on - étage: the raised structure above your head (you can possibly climb and walk on)
OK for the meaning of floor, but you walk also on the street level and you go up for the next level so I find it more accurate to say ground floor for street level and 1st floor for 1st level. Why the usa always do otherwise than the rest of the world?
@@karina8217 I live in Canada where it goes the same as the US, but consider it from our PoV for a moment. When I enter my house, I take several steps up. By the time I get to what I'll call the "main" floor of the house, I'm nowhere near the ground anymore. I'm over half a storey up in the air, so calling it the "ground floor" is rather inaccurate; it's as A Valerie puts it, "an elevated surface". Moreover, below this floor is a basement, whose floor *is* attached to the Earth and whose level is actually closer to ground level than the floor above it. And if that weren't enough, at the back of the house this basement has a door that leads outside with just a few steps to get up to ground level. So if we absolutely had to designate one of the floors as the ground floor, the most logical one is not the main floor but rather the basement... which would mean the main floor is the first floor.
6:50 "The French and a lot of other countries" is not enough. The whole world uses the metric system except the USA, Liberia and Myanmar. I cannot imagine to live without a kitchen scale. But I grew up and live in Austria (Autriche), a metric country. Many years ago I lived in Paris for one year as an au-pair girl. I like to watch your interesting videos from France.
I'm a US citizen. I've never known any of my grandparents or my parents to have a kitchen scale. I also never had one, myself, until I went on a diet a few years ago. The diet plan that I went on recommended weighing this and that. It didn't work out. The idea of measuring each and every little thing when prepping food, I just don't know how people do that, but then I don't like the process of cooking, just eating.
Canada has not completely converted to metric. What I have observed from different Canadian RU-vidrs, that fuel is sold in liters (I believe they spell it litres), temperatures are in Celsius, and stuff you buy from the store in grams. But measurements are overall still done in inches and feet, and a person's weight from what I'm told overall is still in pounds. Not sure how many Canadians still use cups, but at least 2 channels I watch, still cook using cups. The UK has not fully converted either, though I believe the younger people are almost all metric, than older generations. These 2 countries still use both metric and imperial.
@@laurie7689 In much the same way, I don't understand how U.S. people need to soften butter and make it fit into a teaspoon or tablespoon or having to put every ingredients into smaller recipients (cups) in order to mix it in a bowl. With weight, you just put your bowl on a scale and add 100 g of butter or sugar, for example. There is also no need to keep washing your measuring containers. Simple, efficient and more precise to boot.
@@laurie7689 But you would not measure weights each time!! Only when in doubt, i.e. may be twice a year or something. As for the remainder you prepare your meals according to your fancy, and you still may using glassware to compare volumes and prepare bread or donuts using flour, water, milk etc. Thank God!.
You could add school marks. No B+, we give you a mark on 20, or sometimes 40 for the big exams. You could also talk about the clothes sizes, which are absolute chaos in every country.
VERY IMPORTANT: They calculate weeks differently (or at least say them differently)! They can say, "see you in 8 days or 15 days" meaning a week or two weeks respectively. You don't want to be a day late; so get them to clarify the actual calendar date: May 15th for example. AND speaking of calendars, if you buy one or an agenda be aware that the first day of the week is Monday NOT Sunday!
I'm french and I never heard someone say "see you in 8 days" we just say "see you in a week" maybe it differs from different regions idk. Personnally I'm from the south.
@@Thexorex I have lived in multiple places from Northern Belgium to Pays de Loire and can confirm nobody says "see you in 8 days". "See you in a week" is what's used, meaning, "same day next week".
I've to agree with everybody, never heard of 8 days from north to south. But see you in 15 days absolutely means 2 weeks for us, but it is never meant in a precise way. I don't think anybody would apoint a rendez vous saying that. It's more a guideline like "approximately half a month". If i say to a friend "see you in 15 day" and it's monday, i could see him 2 weeks later on monday, Tuesday, Wednesday... Doesn't matter
About fuel efficiency. You have 2 numbers. A, the amount of fuel you used for the trip. B the length of the trip. If you divide A by B, you get the efficiency in X Liters for 100Km (or X Gal per Mile) , if you divide B by A, you get the efficiency in X distance(in Km or Mile) for 1 Liter (or Gal). It's that simple.
French does not count using their fingers the same way as in US: French begin bu the thumb and expose next finger one after the others. US begin by the index and extend the others long fingers, to end up with the thumb.
As a French living in the US since less than a year, I really enjoy your videos ! Kids shoes sizes are... complicated in the US... You hava baby, toddler, bigger... with each time a different scale. So confusing... In France, it' continuos ! So much easier... The gluten content of the flour is also tricky... No T55 or T110.
In the UK we have children's and adult's sizes (2 sets) and I know people who have accidentally ordered the wrong one before. It was a mark of pride "progressing" from double digits back to single digits as a child though (because even adults with small feet are usually at least an adult size 3 or 4). Men's and women's sizes also diverge around an adult size 7 too, just to complicate things further (so if you have larger feet then check whether you've picked up a women's or men's size shoe).
The T in ’Farine T55’ does not indicate the gluten level but the typical ash level, ie the mineral level due to the fibers. This is why wholemeal flour is T150 because it contains more fiber than T45, a very white and very fine flour.
Great video Love baking with metric scale. The clothes sizing takes a minute to figure out , but it's so consistent in sizing I order my clothes from online stores in France and have never had to return a thing. Difference is great.....we would all be boring if it was all the same. 😊 From Montana, I wish you a wonderful day in France.
@@tatoute1 I find with measuring flours , sugars and such that the amount is different from weighing on scale than if I just scoop to fill a cup. Do you find that as well or possibly just me. I spent half my life in Canada with metric, so maybe it seems simple also because of that.
@@florencebelcourt9706 Yes, cups are quite less precise than scales. But it easier to use; CLean the cup, plunge it into the flour, remove the excess with the back of the knife, et voila! Much more things to do with the scale: find the scale, get the zero, put the flour gram by grams (joking) . Do not put too much because you do not want to put it back... And to switch from powder to liquid, just 2 second under the water, a quick clean, and the cup is ready for the milk! hahaha. I'm probably one of the very rare native french guy that make sure I have a series of standard cups and spoons ready to be in use in my french kitchen!
@@tatoute1 , 😊, it sounds like you have a very organized system with the cups and spoons in your kitchen. ... if it works and we get something good to eat at the end means it's the right technique for us. Yes, watch those grams haha, those little trouble makers like to sneak extra into the bowl.
Although a volume of liquid have been given in ml for a while now, and a mass of everything else in g, you can still find in old recipes books and transcripts of ancient recipes, ”cuillère à café” (cc), ”cuillères à soupe” (cs) and ”tasses” (t), by convention 5, 15, and 250 ml. You can even buy a set of measuring spoons in cooking stores.
Cooking by weight is just so much easier than cooking by volume, no matter if you use metric (like the Scandinavians) or imperial units (like the Americans). You just put a bowl on a scale and push the tare button between the ingredients to zero the scale. I always wondered how you measure a tbsp of butter using a spoon. It's nearly impossible. Using a scale you just cut pieces of butter and throw it in the bowl until the scale indicates it's enough.
The paper wrapper on butter is marked with teaspoon, tablespoon, ounce, 1/4 cup, and 1/3 cup increments. The entire stick weighs 4 ounces which is 1/2 cup. You just cut off at the mark you need. Most recipes it doesn’t matter if you are off by a teaspoon either direction. That said, I weigh my butter when I am following a recipe. If it says 3 tablespoons then I know it’s 1.5 ounces. If the recipe is in grams, then I know that every 28 grams is an ounce or 2 tablespoons. That gets me close when I put the butter on the scale and then I just adjust to get it exact.
@@amyschmelzer6445 Thank you for the explanation. Now I understand. It's not meant that you actually use a tablespoon to measure the butter, which is not very practical, a tablespoon is defined as half an ounce. We just have gram marks on the butter sticks, so one tablespoon of butter in a recipe is very misleading.
Bonjour. For those who wonder why we skip from words to numbers for schools : after petite section maternelle (3 yo)/moyenne section maternelle (4 yo) and grande section maternelle (5 yo), we used to count from 11e (pronounced onzième, today it's CP, cours préparatoire for 6 yo) to 7e (pronounced septième, but don't say the letter p, today it's CM2). So the next step was and still is 6e (11 yo). I don't know if we still use it, I would say no, we say the letters.
L'an dernier aux présidentielles, Zemmour évoquait sa 7ème et tout le monde l'avait fait passer pour un ringard. Je suis de 86, je n'ai pas connu ce décompte mais mes parents m'en avaient parlé. (Les sections A, B, C, etc pendant le Bac ont changé de terme aussi)
@@prouvencau6343 J'ai regardé l'âge de Zemmour et ça colle ! Par contre il faut savoir s"adapter aux changements de la langue si on veut être compris et ne pas passer pour un éventuel président ringard !
Born in 1959, I knew the school going from the 11th to the "Terminale". I even went to "7th CS" (for Higher Course) to go to college (where I saw girls for the first time. Don't laugh.). It was necessary, at the time, to pass an exam and only those who were in this "special grade" could do it! My G*, how old am I! What is strange and funny is that there are 12 years of study, but we started in 11th, today in CP (Preparatory course, 1st grade). We must therefore add a grade without a number, and it is the "Terminale" (12th grade). And icing on the cake, we speak of "Classe de seconde" (10th grade), whereas to be correct, we should speak of "Classe de deuxième", because in French, we should only use "second(e)" when there is no "third". It's a peak, especially for the School, but French is sometimes very weird.
I spent two years in the US, and the worst conversion I tried was to figure out the tyre pressure measurements. Converting psi to kg/cm2 (just to get a rough idea on how much air I had to put in a US car tyre) is a nightmare ! The other funny conversions are temperatures, i.e. °C to °F... I worked as a reserach scientist in an hospital at that time, and at the canteen I caught a conversation between two MDs wondering what was a normal human temp. in °C. One said to the other "I do not remember", the other said "a bit below 40°C"... Well, guys, how to say :-) ? I allowed myself to state bodly that I heard their question and that the normal temps is ca. 36.8 °C. They were suprised but looking at my "tag" with my name, and just heaaring my french accent, they understood. It was funny ! This temp. question was a problem in the lab as most my US colleagues had no idea regarding the temp. of the water baths we used to incubated various elements : They had no clue regarding what are 28°C, 30°C , 37°C and 42°C just to name the most common ones used in a lab (where we speak in metric an IS units!). One day, I found a water bath supposedly set at 37°C to be at least at 45°C... The reguilator broke but nobody noticed ! BOn, OK, c'était il y a presque 35 ans and things may have changed !
yes farenheit is a so deeply illogic scale regarding to celcius based on zero degree at fleezing water and 100°C on boiling water (at sea level), but i think US and brits did like above all to be different even if it's unnecessarily or ridiculously complicated...
Apart from school grades, Australia being a fully metric country is almost identical to the French in most things and that is the logical approach. We do resemble the US in having credit ratings but our vary a bit depending on issuing authority. Most Australians hate using US recipes in the kitchen and the same in the garage for vehicle maintenance and repairs. The only Imperial unit I use is psi for tyre pressure because I old enough to have lived before Australia became metric and as a kid I always knew how many psi my bicycle tyres needed to be correctly inflated. 😂
That’s what I was thinking too. We tend to align more with the French ways. When daughter applied for a housing loan it was done the French way, not credit rating. I too am old enough to remember Imperial. Much prefer metric though - Base 10. Cheers from 🇦🇺
You didn't mention it in this video, but I'm sure the sizes of packaged foods in France are very different as well. In Italy, foods such as sliced meets and cheeses were sold in increments of 100g. The sizes of canned goods also tended to be smaller than in the US. Europeans, in general, often buy in smaller quantities than Americans. It Italy, there was no such thing as a 2 or 2.5 liter bottle of Coke. The largest available was 1.5 liters. Another interesting difference to note is that decimal amounts in Europe are written using a comma, instead of a period. In the US we write 1.5 liters while in Europe 1,5 litres.
We do have the 2 liter bottles in France, but they're not that popular, mainly for very large families. Actually people even tend to prefer small individual cans unless buying for a gathering, because they drink little soda (comparatively) and an entire bottle tends to become flat before being finished. And charcuterie for instance comes indeed in packets between 100 and 250 (not as precise as increments of 100, you'll find ham for instance in packets of 220 grams or 130g of sliced cheese. The tend to go with number of slices rather than precise weights. Ham is 2, 4, 6, 8, 12 slices. Pre-packaged meat from the butcher comes in increments of 100/150 tho, like mince. Steak will be packaged in singles, doubles or by 4).
I was just in the hospital and my blood pressure readings were the same as they would be in the states. As a baker, I’ve always used a scale so I love French recipes. However, the spoon measurements crack me up!
What really cracks me up is the crazy mixed measurement, like “half a cup of flour plus two tablespoons”. Who can achieve any degree of accuracy using such methods? When I come across a recipe with measurements such as these, I pass it by.
Every time I have tried to explain what is Credit Score to my French friends who still live in France, they never get it. It is such a foreign concept for French people. Next time, I'll send them your video! Regarding the clothes, it has been a nightmare for me. I have always been a 38-40 French size. In the US, it can be a Small, an Extra-Small or a Medium, depending on the brand. Now, with some brands, even the XS are like the French medium or large! Sizes are so inconsistent in the US, and are predominantly sized for large women. Shoes are coming as wider, and brands that used to have a rather large selection of "narrow" models, now only have wide and wider.
Same issues with clothes in.france. function mark isnt same . Often they do liar about real size. We use american system also for t shirt and pull. I think clothes come from china so they do often bullshit. Remember L size clothes nobody did can wear ... more for kids. Or chinese men clothes L isnt european standard.
there's also differences the way to calculate , how you put down the division /substraction !!! as an aupair in the us, i strugled a bit about those, i even teach the way we do in france to the kid / assuming he was doing wrong / till the teacher told me about those diiferences!! and nothing to do with differences but while helping, one of the boys, reading ... well, he end up with a french accent .... fast corrected by the teacher's reaction " i assume that's the aupair that helps reading, cause your kid has a french accent while reading !!!! hihihi .... by the way love what you do !
The sizes of sheets of paper are also different !...in France we have A4, A3 etc... that's why when I print a document from an american colleague, it looks weird on the page
It is the same in Spain with the metric system. I remember a few decades ago that shoe sizes in Spain were off 1 size from the European norm, so they changed it to fit the European standard. Also, many years ago houses had their electricity set up for 110 V. We have an old boiler from the 1970s in Spain where the temperature is in Fahrenheit, which is very unusual.
Bonjour Diane from 🇨🇦, We have a mix of measurement systems. When I was a child our country changed its linear measurement system to metric, so we now drive our cars in km and by gas and milk in litres, but it has taken many years for our population to adapt to this because previously we used miles and gallons. Our weather temps are now measured in C degrees , another option that older generations have had trouble adapting to. Recipies are still used in cups, and teaspoons or tablespoons, though we buy all grocery goods like juice, and soft drinks in litres or Mille- litres. Fresh produce by the pound but processed produce like canned carrots, pears or peaches by the ml. Interesting mix. As a lady of mature years, I have begun to cook in grams of ml now after our trip to France when I experienced how precise it was. Hope you have a great day
@@OuiInFrance Basically, we use "8 jours" for a period of approximately a week and "15 jours" or "une quinzaine" for a period of approximately 2 weeks.
@@OuiInFrance Yes, quite common to says to friends: on se retrouve dans une huitaine / dans une quinzaine... Specially thru the word quinzaine or huitaine, because nobody will ever use quatorzaine or septaine, it sounds too weird! But sometimes we even use 8 or 15 number, as an habit.
At the very beginning: Minute 0:12: un traiteur! Does not exist in the US. A "traiteur" is many levels above what is called in the US a deli. "Traiteurs" are one of the things I miss the most as a French expat in the US. The food is refined, prepared with care, with regional delicacies, and wen you don;t feel like cooking, you stop there and get delicious prepared specialties. I also see 3.40 euros TTC for a quiche lorraine is very reasonable. Here in the US, for a fake quiche (if you can find one) that tastes like cardboard, it is at least $5.
I just need to say: usually I haaaate ads or sponsors commercials content but yours are always so cool and interesting for stuff that I’d actually like to try and, surprisingly, I actually like them! I learn even from your ads 😂 And I totally agree with you on rings and shoes sizes, sooo annoying that there’s so much variation between the supposed same sizes here in the US. We really messed up not switching to metric back in the 70s cuz if they had then I’d have never had to deal with the awkward constant conversions in science class, in cooking, in sizes of things etc., as well as the freaking weather! I hate having to flip between Fahrenheit and Celsius 😅.
UK answers: Fuel efficiency - we use miles per gallon too, but our fuel is sold in litres 🤷♀️ (I think we must be the most mixed unit country in the world!) School years (not grades here) - reception or sometimes foundation (ages 4-5) and then years 1-13 (aged 18). This is different in Scotland and Northern Ireland though, but I can't remember exactly how they do it. In terms of the actual schools, the most common is primary (up to year 6 - aged 11) and secondary school (either up to year 11 (16) or year 13 (18)) - this can also be called high school in some areas. However, sometimes primary school is split into infants (up to year 2 - aged 7) and juniors (years 3-6). You can also have a 3-tiered system in some areas where they have lower school (up to year 4 - aged 9), middle school (up to year 8 - aged 13) and upper school (typically up to year 13 - aged 18). Years 12 and 13 are often referred to as 6th form (dating back to an old schooling system that is no longer used) and can either be attached to a secondary/upper school or as a separate college (6th form colleges are generally more academic and other colleges are generally more vocational, but all are aged 16+). Personally, I went to a play group, two different nurseries, an infants, a juniors, a middle school, an upper school, stayed on to 6th form at said upper school, then went to two different universities. So I just confuse most people (even other Brits) 😆 Blood pressure - I've never had a need to track my blood pressure, but I think we do it the same way as the US. I've got no idea about cholesterol though. Baking - modern recipes use metric weights, older recipes use imperial weights. Small measurements or certain ingredients may use volume though, e.g. 1 tablespoon of golden syrup or half a level teaspoon of cinnamon, but you can get special standardised measuring spoons for these. Bed sizes - I'm not sure of the exact dimensions, but our standard bed sizes are single, double, king and super king. I think a UK king is roughly the same size as a US queen. You can also get children's beds (smaller than a single) or rarely 3/4 beds which are halfway between a single and a double. Ring sizes - I think we use letters (A, B, C, etc...), but I don't wear rings so I'm not 100% sure.
some us cook books use both systems, i.e. cups, tbs, ounces but also grams. For example, Rose Levy Berenbaum's Cake Bible and Bread Bible. But very interesting. Thanks.
I have one I bought from a closeout store in the US, that was published in the UK for the US market, as it had our spellings for words, instead of their spellings. It listed cups/gm for each item, except for tsp and Tsp (teaspoon and Tablespoon), which was the same. For certain items, if it called for an entire package of an item, the US item might either be too much, or too little, because the original recipe used metric, and that country has different standardized weights for certain items from the US.
Hello Diane, When you mentionned measurement in baking, i believed for a moment you were about to introduce your viewers to the good ol' french " verre à mesure" . a classic item. but why not the scale. Keep up the good job.
Paper. In the US, you have things like "letter" (8.5 x 11) and "legal" (8.5 x 14). In Europe, you have A4. You fold an A4 in half, you get A5. You fold that in half, you get A6.You fold that in half, you get A7. So much easier.
You might as well start from the base : an "A" paper is 1 square meter of surface. Fold it once, A1 is born. etc until the most commonly used, A3 to A5. I concur on the "so much easier" !
@@karina8217 No, it doesn't mean that. Ground floor apartments exist -- it's just the numbering system that's different. In the U.S., a ground floor apt would be on the "first floor."
@@matthewjay660 I know that, I am belgian and I speak french and Dutch. It's only that I find it weard that the ground floor is called 1st floor in the usa because that has nothing to do with the level you are on when you enter a building.
This isn't really calculation but the way French people count with their fingers is different from Americans. For example, in France, the number one is displayed by using the thumb, while Americans use their index finger. So, if want to say 3 using your fingers, in France it's thumb, index and middle fingers, and the ring finger and pinky are bent down towards the palm . For Americans, 3 isshown using the index, middle and ring fingers with the thumb holding down the pinky over the palm of the hand
@@OuiInFrance don't take note, it differ from area to aera... It's the german way actually, so in the north-east part of France, you will find this, but in the remaining area, it's the same as the us.
Hello, A ring size of 6 in the US is consistent from location to location. The difference in fit is due to the width of a ring. If it is a wide band you will generally need to upsize, a very narrow width may possibly go smaller. This would apply in either system.
😂 I know. I'm from Canada. L/100Km in the east, Miles per Gallon in the west. And just to confuse things, MPG is with the Imperial gallon (4.54L), but car dealer ads are MPG using the US gallon (3.78L) 🤣 No Rhyme, Nor Reason.....😂
I always thought measuring in cups was pretty stupid. I think it may be different now but when I was at state school In the UK we had 1st, 2nd and 3rd year Infants (ages 4/5 to 6/7) followed by 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th year Juniors (ages 7-10), followed by 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th year Seniors) (ages 11-16) at which point there was 1st and 2nd year of 6th form college. However I changed after 4th year Juniors (age 11) to a private fee paying school where 11 year olds were "The Third Form", 12 year olds were "The Lower Fourth" and so on,, through the Upper Fourth, Lower Fifth and Upper Fifth at which point I went back into the state system for the first and second year of 6th form college but could have stayed on for thee Lower Sixth and Upper Sixth- I get so confused when people talk about "Grades" in school when they mean Forms or years 😄 To me a grade is the mark you get for the work, like A- or B+
That's the English system, which I always found confusing. In Scotland there are 7 primary school classes (P1 to P7) and 6 secondary school classes (S1 to S6). Private schools may have a system with 5 primary classes, two junior classes (J1 and J2) and 6 secondary classes (Form 1 to Form 6). You stay at the same school all the way through secondary school. It's much simpler.
I wish I got 15 MPG in my old truck. It only got around 13. That ratio you use in France is the same type computation we use to calculate fuel efficiency for aircraft (it tells us how much fuel we need which is the whole point anyway)
This video made me think of something I find strange in the way the French express amounts. If I understand correctly, when they say "deux fois moins" that means "half as much." "trois fois moins" means "a third as much." Am I interpreting these expressions correctly?
Yes you're wrong. To remeber it you can translate that my: "deux fois plus"="twice as much" so "deux fois moins" is the opposite: twice less so "half".
Thank you Diane. Nice video. After five years here, I still have to do a quick calculation in my head to know what a temperature in Celsius means to me.🤭
I grew up in Ireland and have also lived in Canada and the US. I know what a temperature in Celsius / centigrade feels like, particularly as 0 degrees is where water becomes ice and 100 degrees is where water becomes steam. I do not think in Fahrenheit.
Both °C and °F have advantages for weather temp evaluation: 0°C is water icing , so Celsius users know that below 0°C it's winter-like weather 96°F is close (a little above) to human internal temp. So near and beyond 100°F , dry air heat is uncomfortable because the sweat does not allow anymore to export metabolic heat. Obviously Celsius day to day users knows that 37° is the normal temp of the body, and Farenheit users knows that icing is at 32°F (and boiling at 180°F). But most Celsius users knows that 0°C is defined by pure water icing and Boiling at 100°C,. I doubt that the majority of Farenheit users knows that 0°F was defined as the icing temps of a mix of some salt and water, more or less the lowest temp of the time (so below 0 in °F is dangerously cold), and that 96°F (a "modern" example of 12 based count, 96=8*12) was defined as the internal temp of... horses (on ne va pas prendre celle des humains, hein?) Note: 12 based systems exists because one can mentally divide it by lot of numbers. It's also easy to divide a circle into 6 and any multiples of it. Today the advantage turned as a disavantage because people does not anymore count mentally.
You can Google the conversion from l/100km to miles/gallon. Credit score does not exist because every credit, including credt cards are centralized at the National Bank, to prevent consumers to go over credit. The score does not exist, you are denied credit if you are over the limit. Shoes size is .66 cm per one size (or 3 units per 2cm). That had been introduced by Napoleon when he had to get shoes for his army and every cobbler were having different units.
I've never seen anybody using a scale to cook; for bakery we usually use a glass with measures written of it; and you'd have the equivalent weight for different ingredients written on the side (like flour; sugar and so on). pretty sure that also exists in the US.
The bank/credit score method used in France was the system used in the UK until around the late 1980's. You made an appointment with your bank manager,, they would have your account record and would be able to make an informed decision on your loan application based on your account history and what you wanted the loan for.
The credit score system simplifies (or makes it possible) for many types of retailers and lenders to give you credit. Do retailers not give credit (ie issue their own credit cards) in France?
I imagine we’re going to see a shift in mattress sizes in the IS as global trade increases (like all US appliances used to have 6 foot chords (minimum required by law) and now have 2 meter chords instead (still meets that minimum but is more common overseas and is for all practical purposes the same)
Weighing is indeed much more accurate and yes, that’s very important in baking--for SOME of the ingredients (the ones that cause of catalize the reactions) That said, a lot of the best recipes aren’t really “recipes” in the truest sense. They’re grandma’s sense of “that looks right.”
1- It's not just France, you could've used any country in the world as a reference point, except for the UK, Liberia and Myanmar. 😉 2- As a blood donor, and as far as I know, every blood pressure measurement device here in Portugal also reads in mmHG and the doctors I've ever been too also tell you the blood pressure in that unit. Of course I've heard people saying their blood pressure in cmHG but in medical terms it's always the mmHG that's used. 3- What I wrote for #1 also applies here. 🙂
She starts the video by saying several points are the same in many countries but as she is an American living in France she's only talking about those 2 countries... I'm pretty sure the point of that intro was to avoid that kind of comment and still here you are
The UK is also using the metric system. What remains of imperial units is merely people using it out of habits when discussing distances and personal weight.
About school levels, I may say at a point in time, we had numbers to designate levels, even in primary school. "Grande section" was the "12th"... CM2 was the "7th"... which is still the opposite way for tracking level as you do in the US. And for the fuel, it's mostly an European thing as most of our neighbour do the same. The distance per Gallon is typical US thing.
Millimoles are used as they measure the numbers of molecules of a substance in your blood. This is a form of standardisation as different molecules and different people have different masses and the biological impact is affected by both.
True, but we also use units such as ng/mL or G/L. On medical analyses, both types of units (weight per unit of volume, or molar concentrations) are used.
There are so many more. And I just think about stairs... We count level only when it's level over the ground. So for us one level means 2 for you. Your 1 is 0 for us, or RDC (Rez-De-Chaussé, which means level of the street).
Hi all, UK is the same as the US for mpg and grades. The main thing to remember: why would things be the same when you go to a different country. Nice video! Thanks.
We use litres per 100kms in Canada. I suspect all metric countries do because a litre is closer to a quart and a kilometer is 5/8 mile so kms/l would be weirdly small. 30MPG = 12.75 LPKM. As fpr baking and general measurements, well, there aren't many countries left that haven't at least partially converted to metric - the US is the one major hold out. Metric has the advantage of consistency and ease of scaling. Like, 1/3 of kilometer = 333.333m but a third of a mile is...586.661 yards. A half a quart is 16 oz - whicḣ is also 1 pound - but a half a litre is 500ml. (1 litre = 1000ml because m = milli = 1/1000)
I suspect the "100km" thing is a way to better visualise the distance for people. If you say i'm going every day from Paris to there it's 100km, it means something from a day to day basis. Having it at 1000km would be a one time a year travel for most, a single km is too short and would need a lot of (not so hard) calcul
Bonjour Diane. One thing you did not mention about the French schooling system... The French system used to be a "countdown" from 12 (kind of the opposite of the school system in the United States). Hence, GS used to be 12ème (Douzième), CP used to be 11ème (Onzième), CE1 used to be 10ème (Dixième), CE2 used to be 9ème (Neuvième), CM1 used to be 8ème (Huitième), and CM2 used to be 7ème (Septième). This explains why after CM2, you have Sixième (6ème), Cinquième (5ème), Quatrième (4ème), Troisième (3ème), Seconde (2de), Première (1re), and Terminale. As a side note, GS roughly corresponds to kindergarten (maternelle), CP to CM2 roughly corresponds to elementary (élémentaire), Sixième to Troisième roughly corresponds to junior high (Collège), and Seconde to Terminale to Senior High (Lycée). Starting GS at the age of 5 means you should be 17 (5 + 12) when you start Terminale. Regarding fuel, your explanation is not exact. Whilst the United Sates measures "fuel efficiency" (sometimes also called "fuel economy"), the French (and pretty much the rest of the world) measure "fuel consumption". The former specifies the distance you can travel with a gallon of fuel (ie. how efficient the vehicle is), and the later specifies how much fuel you will "consume" to travel one kilometer. One last peculiar thing you did not mention but I am sure you found different is the way the French write numbers with the period (.) for the thousands separator and the comma (,) for the decimal separator. Hence 1,500.00 euros is written 1.500,00 in France.
@@Erlewyn Yes, officially, the thousands separator is a space in France since 1948 (cf. the "9ième Conférence générale des poids et mesures"), but in practice, you'll find way more periods than spaces (especially on commercial documents like invoices, quotes, etc.). Even on cheques, people tend to write a period rather than a space as a thousands separator.
@@philippebruno8039 I disagree with that. You'll mostly find a period either on old systems, or as a decimal separator instead of the comma. Otherwise, people definitely use a space way more often than a period, especially for stuff they actually write themselves (like a cheque). In fact I've seen the use of apostrophes, or even skipping the separator alltogether, more often than I've seen periods.
Blood pressure is mesured in cmHg in common language. But if you are healthcare professional (I'm a nurse) in France, it is better to use mmHg. Strange indeed...
I live in Canada. My vehicle shows fuel consumption in L/100 Km. When baking, I measure dry ingredients in grams. As a (now retired) paediatrician I measured patient weights in Kg. Let’s not forget that the US is the outlier when it comes to using the metric system. It is so much easier!
In backing, in Canada, lots of recipes are still in empirical not metrics... French living in AB. But yes, Canadians have a hard time to choose between empirical, because USA, and metrics, because rest of the world, well, mostly 😅
C'est étonnant, enfin pour moi, l'utilisation au usa du système métrique pour la tension et le cholestérol et c'est intéressant cette façon de compter en distance pour le carburant.
One difference that can get you in a lot of trouble is the the fact that the French use a comma where the English speaking world uses a full stop (period) and vice versa. Getting that wrong can have a huge impact.
Americans use both volume and weight. People who don’t bake often use volume, people who bake a lot use weight. We have three scales as well as a bunch of measuring cups and use both depending on circumstance.
One thing I am curious about: is the birthing procedure the same? I know the biology of the process is exactly the same but what role does the dad play, is done at home/ birthing center or hospital as a matter of routine? How long is it before mom and baby come home, etc?
A dad have 25 days of holyday he must take 6 month after the birth or its lose. 32 if he have twins. Its 25 days of rank not 25 days of daywork. Standard days in hopital after a.birth is between 3 and 8 days. 2 or 3 days more in the case of caesar birth.
I've had 4 children in France, my youngest is 18 now, at that time my husband had a fortnight of paid parental leave, and i had 3 years i was paid around 600€ a month by the state to stay at home,( i had this from my second child onwards) i believe that it's a bit less now though. For the time in hospital, its 8 days for a first birth with no complications, around 11 days for a cesaerian, this amount of time can go down for subsequent births, but not by a lot, i think i was in for 6 or 7 days for my last child, as i needed that rest. Home birthing, water births etc are very rare, most woemen just go to their local state run hospital, private hospitals existe too, but it's free in the state run, i only paid for a tv and telephone rental and a supplement if i wanted my own room as apposed to a 2 person room, in total less than 200€ billed that my insurance took care of
Most women give birth at hospital (private or public: quality is the same but in private you have more beautiful rooms/more services, it's a bit more expensive but not that much, like paying for a nice hotel). Some give birth at home but it's very rare. If everything is fine the mother stay 3 days, a week for a C section. Most of the time the father is here for the delivery (they are always welcomed but some, even if it's rare, prefer not) and sometimes they give him a small bed to stay the 3 days. Every woman have (for free) 10 hours of birth lesson before the birth, they can choose the way they have those lessons (it can vary a bit according to the hospital): traditional, sophrology, yoga, acupuncture, aptonomy, in a pool, etc.... More and more hospitals (public and private) build "natural birth" rooms: with a sofa, a nice bed, a small pool, a gym ball etc.. where you can choose your position and being free to move around but you can't have the epidural (if you change your mind soon enough it's fine and you're switch to a regular delivery room). I also had a osteopath coming in my room for me after the birth. After the birth you can have a free visit at home from a midwife, you have get 900€ by the government to by whatever you wish (900 per child, so 1800 for twins). For twins you also have a few hours of free cleaning service.
- About the mileage of a car: In Holland they use distance/volume (km/1 liter), in Belgium we use volume/distance (Liter/100 kilometer like the French). - In Belgium and Holland we use 'gelijkvloers' for the floor (=vloer) that is equal (=gelijk) to the level of the street. Everything above it is a 'verdieping' which means a kind of deepening, as in making something deeper or further away in the distance, in this case not down, but up as you would look UP deep in to the night sky. So '1e verdieping' means the first extension UP, and so on. - Now, that credit score. That is just an atrocious concept. This is litterally putting a value on a person. But in the US everything is about appearence, so no wonder there.
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MERCI Diane. I'll tell my sister or check them out when I'm back in the States! P.S. I also added a comment on how days/weeks are calculated here (8 or 15 days for 1 or 2 weeks) and noted that the week starts on Monday! Thanks again.
The french way, in fact the world way is to use metric. Lack of proper education and misplaced arrogance lead to the failure of the us to go metric except in science, technology, majority of industries...
Obviously school grades, but also MPG are more practical because you know exactly the distance you'll travel with a full tank without having to divide x Kilometers by x Liters of gas. French people used to count how many tanks (le plein) they fill every month, which makes zero sense LOL. PS : Credit score exists but might be illegal, therefore bankers rate their clients behind their backs.
Just for general knowledge...blood pressure value of 120/80 mmHg is NO longer considered NORMAL..now it is categorized as prehypertension...so..if you have these values...you should be checking your pressure and making some adjustments in lifestyle.
The first time I see an English recipe with measure in cup, I feel that is not as simple as using random cup. I search a lot and I find that cup is standardised, it's 12,5ml I think (if my memory is good enough).
actgually, we have a credit score in france. i saw mine on the scr'een of my assigned banker when i signed my credit for my home. it was a B- at the time. i asked him what that B- was and he said it was my reliability rating on credit so basicly my credit score. no idea what the scale is but it must be pretty decent as i had my credit approuved really easilly despite not even being cathégorised as a middle class income citizen.
Those are internal to the bank, not national. If you were to go from the bank that showed that B- to another and say "I havea b- rating", it wouldn't mean anything to them. They all calculate things differently. For instance, some banks will take only into account your overall income. Others will add your average expenses to that to determine a "reste a vivre" (left to live, in other words, disposable income). That's why some banks are harder than others to get a loan from.
Hello Diane ....love your videos! Question about ordering sliced deli meats or prepared foods at a grocery store or market. We are used to ordering 1/4 or 1/2 lb or maybe a full lb of whatever....what near equivalent in Kg makes sense?
Hi Rebecca, so glad you enjoy my content. You won't find an equivalent selection of deli meat in France but there is cooked ham and charcuterie as well as a traiteur section of salads and other items that are priced by weight. It depends how many people you're buying for and the exact item, but you can order in grams. 500 grams is a little more than a pound. What I've also seen people do is to order by the number of slices for things like ham. They are pretty hearty slices so ask for 4 or 6 slices if you want to make a couple of sandwiches. Also, the prepared foods are served in containers of various sizes so you can say "une petite (ou grande) barquette de pommes de terres" or whatever you're ordering. That way you don't need to estimate grams but just the size of the container, which they can hold up ahead of time so you can see it. Something else you'll see is ordering for the amount of people, so "Le poulet pour 2 personnes, s'il vous plait" and they'll fill up a container that corresponds to enough for 2. Hope that helps!
I will never forget when I bought my pants in France for the first time. I had to try on many pants on to know what was my French size. Even now after living here for a decade, I still don't remember my French size but I still remember my US size which is 32×34. 😅
Been living in the US for decades, still can’t do ounces, and jacket sizes (have to try on to start cos I always forget)… amazing how conditioned we are early on, and it’s hard to ‘de-program’… interesting topic though
You are trusting a little bit too much the bakeries... In France, it's hard to find exact sources, but from industry professional about 60% of viennoiseries are baked from frozen products
I beg to differ regarding the quality of bread. The best bread in the world is a true Southetn biscuit which can only be made properly with southern flour. And I’ve never had cornbread outside the South that was any good.
Grams and mols aren't "slightly" different. 1 mol of any compound will always contain the same mollecular amount. 1 gram of two different compounds will not.
You are partially wrong because for a compound, it's mass can be defined by the formula m=M/N where M is the molar mass (a constant dependent to the compound) and N the quantity of molecule in mol. So there is a direct relationship bitwin mol and g for a single compound. In the case right here, it's a single compound. I may add, you can't count the number of molecules in a liquid, but you can mesure it's mass. So for one, as a french, i've to give point to US here
Also, if you go to a bar in France keep in mind that a "shot" is defined as about 25ml.. whereas in the US a standard shot is around 44 ml. And accordingly this means the cocktails are WEAK. After 5 years in France, and growing up in New Orleans as a baseline.. I've just resorted to ordering two shots, or a double in my cocktail.
Cocktails are not weak, they're standard according to the law. Measurements in bars make it so that any drink is equivallent to another in alcoholic strength. It actually makes it easier to determine how much you've had. The same law dictates that cl contained in the drink and their alcoholic content should be described on the menu. And the same law again says the drink must be prepared in front of the customer, with the bottle clearly visible or, if ordered as a closed drink (bottle, can) should be opened in front of the customer.
Not sure about that... A glass of wine is 14cL standard for a 12% alcool For a shot at 40% alcool it would be equivalent to a 4cL shot (this is what i remember to be standard) And for a beer it's the "demi" at 25cL Maybe the shot size is supposed to follow the maximum g of alcool /L of blood of the driving law?
I never really understood why Americans do not use metric system. It's just so easy and the meter is based on speed of light. What a yard is based on? Or a mile? I know a mile is 1.609 Km but where does it come from?
It's kinda both… If you look at a job offer, it will mention the "brut" salary (pre tax), but when people speak colloquially, they'll use the "net" salary (take home) ; job offers will state clearly what they use, people not so much but it's usually not necessary.
There is a big difference in france and it depends on the salary. If you win money to survive day to day (about a SMIC, miniam salary up to about 2000/month) you will say your salary in "net" wich is after cotisations, not tax! Because if you don't earn much, you don't even pay tax! Then there are the big jobs and it's a yearly salary, in "brut" for pre tax/cotisations. Usually said in thousands "40k€"
hello, I don't know what the legislation is in the US but if a video is sponsored or if a product is promoted through a partnership, it is mandatory in France to mention it under pain of criminal sanctions. I have nothing against the creators who make it but it would be a shame to take a sanction for that...
Hi there, as RU-vidrs, if we are sponsored (paid) by a company to make a video, share affiliate partner links, or receive free product, we have to declare that by checking a box that appears on screen in the first few seconds of the video that says "paid promotion," which encompasses what I mentioned above. You'll see that in the beginning of this video. This video was NOT sponsored (paid) but I'm an affiliate for Wildgrain as I noted in the description box. ;-) I apologize for not actually saying in the video that Wildgrain did NOT sponsor me in the video itself and that it came across as a sponsored video and not me just sharing my affiliate link as a happy customer. If I have a sponsor (am paid for making video), I always click the paid promotion box, note it in the description and I always mention it in the video. It's important to be transparent with our audience and I play by the rules. Thanks for being curious and for watching!
My grandmother used a scale. She was American and had never been to another country. I'm wondering if here in the US it is/was more of a generational thing. I suspect that was how she was taught to cook/bake in her day and the more recent generations have just veered away from it.
My grandmother did both. Had a scale for some things, measured with cups for others. It depended how precise she needed to be. One big difference, is that anything measured by cup, was Sifted. So way less 'weight' than anyone who 'scoops' their dry goods. BTW, she was from Montreal, Canada. and I measure the European way, by weight, when baking. (except when I might 'wing it', for desserts)😁
My understanding was that the pioneers who colonized the US Midwest did not have room for scales in their covered wagons, so they became accustomed to using cups for measuring ingredients by volume. Unfortunately the volume of a cup was not standard. Results may vary when using old recipes. Even today, measuring dry ingredients by volume is fraught with error as the density may vary.
For pregnancy, the number of days/weeks (can't remember which) is slightly different and unlike the calculation in every other country apparently. So a due date will be either slightly earlier or later based on French calculations. It was over 20 years ago, so I can't quite remember the exact info, which I'm sure you'll be able to check up on! As another native English speaker (but British) and having lived here since 1990, I love all your observations which I am equally aware of but that you express/explain so well. Keep up the good work!
