You were right to look it up -- a firkin evidently can be a standard -- 56 lbs. for butter, 9 gallons for wine, according to Wikipedia, and other values, depending upon what system of weights and measures you use. Nonetheless, I remember firkin as referring to a shape rather than a size.
From: bea <bea.spencer@sympatico.ca>
To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 6, 2015 5:21 AM
Subject: Re: [pbs] Kelvins Centigrades and Fahrenheits
I am not an expert on firkins. I had to look it up but I also found out that in Toronto there is a whole chain of pubs called "Firkin". Since the merchandise they dispense there is mostly liquid there has to be some connection. Perhaps like many words this one has more than one meaning.
Sent from my iPhone
> On Aug 5, 2015, at 11:35 PM, David Ehrlich <idavide@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
> As far as I know, a firkin is not a fixed amount, though it is always a large amount. I have known firkins used to contain many things, but never wine. Maybe wine grapes, but not wine. I remember in the days before paper, our grocer would cut butter from a great firkin he kept in the dairy case, but the wine came from a cask.
> David E
> From: Sue <sevanetz@telus.net>
> To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 5, 2015 11:50 AM
> Subject: Re: [pbs] Kelvins Centigrades and Fahrenheits
>
> Sitting on a sailboat in the welcome rain, you made my day.
>
>
>
>> On Aug 4, 2015, at 12:50 AM, Leo Martin <stnalpsoel@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Bob Nold wrote
>> ***
>> In fact I think we should move away from inches, and even millimeters, to a
>> more universal system.
>>
>> Bulbs should normally be planted 2.14787157 x 10 to the minus 17 light
>> years deep.
>> ***
>>
>> My chairman frequently made us calculate drug doses administered by
>> continuous infusion in firkins per fortnight. We decided it was more
>> appropriate to use the wine firkin rather than the others.
>>
>> Leo Martin
>> Zone ?
>> Phoenix Arizona USA
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