Was given this measuring set as a gift . It is very versatile containing 13 measuring “thingies” to help me try and not ruin as many of my culinary attempts . /
The measurements on the spoons on the left of the picture brought a smile to my face . They are marked . A smidgen , a pinch , a dash , a tad . I’m trying to get my head around a smidgen , I wonder what volume it really is
On a serious note they are a great set of measuring devices and being stainless steel is a real bonus to me as I’m not a great fan of plastics .
SMIDGEN - A smidgen holds 1/2 pinch or 1/32 teaspoon. 2 smidgens = 1 pinch
PINCH - A pinch holds 1/2 dash or 1/16 teaspoon. 2 pinches = 1 dash
A pinch has historically been defined as “an amount that can be taken between the thumb and forefinger” but without any definite equivalent in other units of measurement.
DASH - A dash holds 1/8 teaspoon. 8 dashes = 1 teaspoon
A dash was originally considered a liquid measure, a small but indefinite amount. More recently the term has been used as both a liquid and dry measurement.
NOTE: There is some contention as to just how much a pinch or dash is. Some contend that they are both equal to 1/16 teaspoon, while others claim a pinch equals 1/16 teaspoon, but a dash equals 1/8 teaspoon.
I think there must have been a smidgen of truth in what you wrote there Phil I’ll just “dash” down to the kitchen and see if I can “pinch” some information out of one of my cook books if you can wait a “tad”
I always thought a peck was a small unit eg a bird had a peck at the seed…small right? Yep that’s one ginormous bird at 8 yes 8 quarts to the peck…ok now I am adjusting all bird sizes based on the peck.
If it was in a DEC manual, it was completely legit
From the DecSystem-10 Macro Assembler Reference Manual - back in the days when core actually meant core, real programmers could do math in octal, and you could find sex and sin in the same manual …
This diversion is on you! While living in the world of octal (Control Data systems - we were real programmers, and had pointy hats and wore capes!) an elderly and extremely competent co-worker had his tax return knocked back one year. They essentially wrote they had no problem with his numbers for income, deductions, etc, but noted he added them incorrectly and indicated what his tax should be – they just added his numbers. He would not have been that sloppy as to add incorrectly. After staring at his return for a while he realised that none of his income or deduction amounts had any 8 or 9 in them, and he unconsciously added them in octal.
I’ll just “dash” down to the kitchen and see if I can “pinch” some information out of one of my cook books if you can wait a “tad” 
