Translation of 'Mustard spoon' ?

[Paul B. Gallagher]

Elena N. Allison wrote:

> May be the following can throw some light on why in certain kinds of 
> documents mixing weight and volume is a norm.
> 
> According to NIH guidelines, medical documents created with the
> purpose to explain to patients the details of medical procedures
> should be written in such a way that they could be understood by
> people without medical education or without much education. They
> suggest that the reading skill level of a 6th-grader is the target to
> bear in mind when one is writing such a document. Due to this, many
> "informed consent" documents in English contain such phrases as "30
> mg (approximately one tablespoonful) of blood will be taken out of a
> vein in your arm."

This could well be a cultural difference. American kitchens are well 
stocked with various devices for measuring the volume of ingredients, 
and our recipes invariably specify the volume and not the weight. Dry 
goods such as flour and sugar and liquids such as milk have a 
consistent, reliable density so either may be confidently specified, 
whereas e.g. lettuce does not.

In contrast, European kitchens and recipes routinely measure certain 
ingredients by weight, and every cook can be expected to have a scale 
for the purpose.

In the case you cite, I think we have a typo, because in the case of a 
blood sample, both cultures would specify the volume: "30 ml (appr. one 
tbsp.)." No phlebotomist would weigh such a sample.

As you say, best practices from a pharmacological standpoint would rely 
only on measuring devices and techniques that all patients are familiar 
with. If you want a precise measurement of a very small quantity, 
measure it yourself, put it in a pill, and tell the patient to take nn 
pills. Don't expect him/her to measure milligrams and such.

-- 
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

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