One thing bugs me to no end. The invention of new relative sizes. It’s stupid and a waste of marketing effort.
If you announce the size of your product, setting, whatever, then it is a fixed size. If you say it’s a 20 ounce coke, then there better be 20 ounces of coke in it. If you say the heater will warm you to 92F, then it had better hit 92F.
But relative sizes, without any actual values do not need to be fancy. If there are three sizes of drink, then it doesn’t matter if you call them tall, grande, and vente… they really are: the small one, the medium sized one, and the large one.
The names DO NOT MATTER. There is one that is the smallest. There is one that is the largest and there is one that is in-between the other two… call it a medium for a lack of another name.
The names are marketing gimmicks with no relation to the amount of involved.
As a note, I heard (and can’t verify) that Starbucks uses small, medium, large in China because of the social and culture aspects. The Chinese will not do anything that might embarrass them and walking into a Starbucks and not understanding the size of the drink would be an embarrassment. They will skip the place and go to another place. So China has a cultural system that makes for a simple relative naming system.
Oh, and while we’re on the subject… fans and heaters. Let’s set a blasted convention on what 1, 2, and 3 mean when dealing with fan speeds, heater warmth levels, and heating pads. On some, ’1′ is the fastest or hottest setting. On others, ’3′ is the fastest or hottest setting.
Manufacturers, please, reach an agreement and stick to it.
