[can3p]

The part that blows my mind all the time is that there are all sorts of cups - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_(unit)

Mile unit is another one of the same sort - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile with the exception that only two kinds have survived if I'm not mistaken - US mile and nautial mile

I guess it can be very simple in US, especially if mug/cup volumes are defined in terms of a "cup" multiples, but in europe I get totally lost when I see the cup unit in the recipe since I din't know what volume it refers to

[jorvi]

I always do cup = 245ml. If you then undershoot or overshoot by 5ml, you’re always okay.

That Wikipedia page is also missing the Dutch “kopje” (little cup) measurement, which is 150ml.

[skywhopper]

The US “statue mile” is also used in the UK (but not Canada, surprisingly to me, as I’d assumed the reverse before I’d visited).

As for cooking, US volume measurements are strictly defined, despite the history of where some of the unit names came from. So it should always be possible to convert to metric volume if you know it’s a US recipe.

[fanf2]

The USA had two different miles until a year ago: the international standard mile (based on Carl Edvard Johansson’s inch), and the US Survey mile. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile#US_survey

[steveBK123]

Yes! It includes the Japanese cup (go), familiar to any American who owns a rice cooker.

[animaomnium]

The volume of 240mL of water. Fill a standard 500mL water bottle to the bottom of the cone: half of that.

     =  500mL
    /_\ 2 cups
    |_| 1 cup 
    |_| zilch

* Not to scale.

[ano-ther]

The Swedish Mile (= 10km) is still in use and once tripped me up when searching for a used car.

They were all wonderfully cheap until I realized that 50,000 on the website actually meant 500,000km driven.