Amen to that AM. I have an electric plane which gives the smoothest of finish to a surface. I would not dream of using it for a shave!
I have ordered a Jigger:
in order to get the correct measure of Calvados to add to my after dinner coffee to take me back when I loved to drink cafecalva in the routiers.
Now freed from non alcoholic duties I have been experimenting with memories of times past. I have already taken to one, or two, small glasses of Porto with my cheese (especially if the butcher has raided a passing Stilton lorry), a gin with tonic before dinner but the memory was better than current reality, toyed with the idea of a single malt after dinner (very expensive), and now, spurred on by a friend who after we have eaten out at the occasionally opening bar, who buys us both and his wife, a glass of Cognac, and have got rather an approving taste for it.
So, Cognac it is, 'till I saw the price, nearly €25 euros for a modest bottle. 
Next to it was a bottle of Calvados at around half the price so I thought, perfect. After dinner, completely forgetting, I poured myself a small glass and took a sizeable sip. 
, nearly bored a hole right through my body to my spine. 
Last night I tipped a bit into my coffee, very nice but I felt perhaps a little more but decided to wait till I could get it right every time. Hence the impending jigger. 
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Don’t get me wrong, as a Fr person the norm is grammes and centilitres/millilitres BUT you will often hear une noix de whatever (eg the amount of hair conditioner you need), une noisette de (butter in the pan for your crêpes), une pointe de muscade etc etc
Also we use yoghurt pots and mustard glasses as measures because everybody knows them. Well maybe not foreigners 
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I love the mustard glasses with their plastic clip on lids… so useful.
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As an English person I do accept that if a French menu is being discussed between French cooks in the French language there will be no ambiguity.
Taking into account the rest of the world as well, which of the following statements would be understood by the most people?
A noisette of butter
5 grams of butter
We live in a global village and it is time we stopped being punished for building the tower of Babel.
works for me… that’s just a blob of butter, on the end of the butter-knife… 
I couldn’t be faffed weighing that small amount…
EDIT: My grantham gingerbreads … require the mixture being manually kneaded then divided and rolled into balls the size of walnuts… and this is an English recipe… !!
Incidentally, they are delicious and my neighbours love 'em.
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Being an English recipe does not necessarily make it understandable.
If a recipe asked you to chuck in a firkin of ale. Would you understand or would you give them a fat lip for being rude?
P.S. If you have any Grantham gingerbreads (balls ‘n all) going spare …
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but it is understandable, that’s my point… using one’s eyes’brain to judge an easily recognisable amount, without the need for equipment to measure it…
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On another, very prudish, forum of mine that sentence would be censored by one word towards the end.
Well it is exclusively for lorry drivers and you know how genteel and easily shocked we all are. 
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thanks for this thread… it’s making me chuckle and keeping me sane (sort of)
It is if you speak English and know what a walnut is. I have not heard the word “walnut” used here in France so I am not convinced everybody here would know what it meant. Whereas if you used the word “gram” they would understand immediately, even if they usually spell it “gramme”
[keep smiling emoji]
Walnut = noix
Hazelnut = noisette
We use them very often because who can be bothered to get the scales out. If a more precise quantity is needed obviously we use grammes or eg because baking powder and vanilla sugar usually come in a little paper sachet we’ll say un sachet de levure chimique rather than whatever it weighs.
Edited to add every French person knows what a walnut or hazelnut-sized amount of something is, they are pretty standard.
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Noix = walnut
Goodness, there are so many delicious walnut (noix) delicacies which you must be missing out on…
and there’s other delicious stuff too… it’s worth getting some French easy- recipe books/mags and working through 'em… helps the language skills and one gains great ideas for cooking… yummy.
some (perhaps many) non-French know too…
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Does it still lie nearly as often as Trump?
Of course I know what walnut is in French. I have a tree full of them and consume them in every way imaginable.
My point is that using your recipe in English, the word “Walnut” would not be obvious to a French person who spoke no English. They would probably need to translate the word.
Unfortunately, many English speaking people in France have very poor French and rely on the likes of Google Translate. So if they come across a noix de something they would probably look it up and they would get →
That would be rather confusing.
Why is it so difficult, when communicating amounts of ingredients, to use grams and avoid ANY confusion.
When we first arrived… I arranged for a monthly French Gardening magazine… and also cookery books…
Making a concerted effort to get to grips with the language of my new home was important to me. It wasn’t always easy… much laughter, many mistakes… but worth all the effort.
and, of course you are correct… if I were to mention Walnut to a neighbour… chances are they’d have no idea… why should they… however if they’ve visited UK… quite possibly they do know… it’s all swings and roundabouts and each person finding what helps them to get the best out of their way of life…
Glad to see someone using the (in my opinion!) correct spelling of GRAMME rather than the Americanised (or as they would say “Americanized”) version “gram”. Gram flour is of course something else entirely!)
(Same thing with “programme” disappearing and being replaced by “program”. Sorry about the thread drift!)
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Gramme is history, gram is preferred pretty much everywhere these days.
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Because it requires people to have something that weighs in grams? Whereas a poignet or a pinch are always on hand😁