Every segment of our lives has vital terminology, does it not? Much of this terminology has abbreviations associated with it and understanding these abbreviations is crucial to the success of whatever project one is involved with. If you are a boater, you'd best know how to read the depths printed on your navigation charts and understand that soundings can be listed in either feet or fathoms. If you are a jogger it would be wise to know just how far a 10K really is before setting foot (pun intended) on the raceway. Driving a vehicle? Know the difference between MPG and MTE on your digital readout. I didn't pay attention to the difference, on our first vehicle with a digital display board, until I finally noticed that, while driving in a remote section of U.S. 2 in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, in the middle of the night with my two young children and my elderly father who was still recovering from a stroke, that the van had less than thirty miles to empty.
Even in daily, household living, being aware of and understanding abbreviations is very important.
Take for instance, woodworking or building. When reading architectural drawings, schematics or floor plans, noticing whether a number is followed by ' or " is a deal-buster. Those same little markings would mean the difference between smiles and tears when sewing a garment. Baking or cooking? The difference between pt. (pint) and qt. (quart) would make a recipe's outcome either fabulous or tragic, especially for a young person eager to please his or her dinner guests.
I think one of the most confusing cooking and baking abbreviations to decipher is the difference between tibbles and tisps. What, you may be asking is a tibble and a tisp? Why, tablespoons and teaspoons, of course. These two measurements present particular challenges for cooks and bakers. First, is the recipe hand-written or printed? Many of us follow recipes from two, three or even four generations ago. Handwriting skills present the initial obstacle to overcome and, secondly, cooks and bakers never had (or have) standardized abbreviations for tablespoons and teaspoons. A few recipes actually have the words spelled out in their entirety, but, more often than not, these two words are abbreviated. Tablespoon may appear as T, tb or tbl. and teaspoon may appear as t, tp, or tsp.
The Holly Daze cooking and baking season is here. Instead of minding our peas and ques, we need to pay close attention to our tibbles and tisps.
Happy cooking, baking and consuming.
Ancora imparo
