2 liter bottles of soda and a half gallon of milk, why

[Pryderi]

do we use metric for one liquid and English for the other?

[trof]

1. Because we're special.

[NV Whino]

2. Soda is universal and milk is (relatively) local?

[rox63]

3. Milk generally doesn't travel long distances to be sold

because it would spoil. Soda has a much longer shelf-life, and can be shipped internationally.

[Pryderi]

10. True, but what about gasoline? nt

[HopeHoops]

4. And metric for medicine and booze, but not for junk food.

[OriginalGeek]

6. I worked at a liquor store briefly in the 90s

My regular drunks always ordered half pints and pints. The tourists always ordered litres. They even said it like that. Not "liters". I could hear them lousy tourists putting that r in front of that e just to fuck with me.

But the REALLY weird one was the Canadians coming in all lobstery burnt red and moaning in pain from the sunburn and asking for 200 cigarettes. WTF? I ain't counting out 200 cigs for you, you crispy Canuck! Huh? Oh, that's a carton. Why dintcha just say that?

[HopeHoops]

7. And canned/bottled soda is in oz's but "half-gallon" bottles are 2-litre.

Canada's damn near all metric, but they know what you mean when you order a pint of draft.

[OriginalGeek]

8. now that you mention it

they can measure it however they want as long as they keep shipping me that La Fin Du Monde...

and at 9%ABV it's not long before I can't understand numbers anyway...

[hack89]

5. American cows? nt

[dimbear]

9. Because Spanish explorer Juan Cabeza de Vaca, came over in a gallon, and Vaca means cow.

It's simple, really.