How tall is a giraffe – Unusual units of measurement

Forums General Discussion How tall is a giraffe? How tall is a giraffe – Unusual units of measurement

#580765
Peter Anderson
Participant

Firstly I hope I don’t fall foul of the moderator but it is a true story. Our eldest son, when at university made a batch of wine with some of his mates. Brewed it themselves. They wanted to do it properly so they were casting around for a name for the labels on the bottles. After test tasting it, they settled on the name ‘cat’s arse’, because, one sip and the mouth pursed together tightly like a cat’s …. The more astringent, the tighter the pursing of the lips.

Okay, then fast forward. It is virtually impossible when buying cheaper white wine (say in casks) to get any idea of how astringent it is.  This is no guide -fresh white – crisp white – dry white . Champagne has ‘brut’, but white wine nothing… (Here in Australia anyway.) So our family have adopted the ‘cats arse’ scale. A higher number represents more astringent and it has proven very useful.  Nevertheless it makes for difficulty in the bottle shop when asking “Where does this wine rate on the  …… scale?” Then you need to explain it. I used it just this morning when buying a cask of wine. . Perhaps the scale should be formally introduced.