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Comment by isamuel | Hacker News Reader

“Third pounder” is also a bad name. “Quarter pounder” has a pleasing rhythm and rhyme to it; “third pounder” doesn’t. “Third” is also easily scanned as “first, second, third,” which “quarter” is not.

Should have called it the “pebble pounder” (0.02 stone—sure, it doesn’t make sense really, but it sounds nice, doesn’t it?) Or the “fifteen’r” (150 grams is about a third of a pound).

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"Quarter pounder" sounds like something eaten by a quarterback. "Third pounder" sounds like something eaten by the guy that always comes in third place.

>always comes in third place.

Yes. 'Third' means 1/3 but also place number three. Whereas 'quarter' means 1/4 but not 'forth'.

Forth is not a number, so why would quater or 1/4 ever mean 'forth'? Fourth is probably the word you're looking for.

Hey, you're correct. I meant 'fourth'. I also have problems with the word versions of 12th and 40th! By the way, the prefix 'quater-' means multiply by four.

quarter means divide by 4. quadruple means to multiply by 4.

Quater also means multiply by 4. I think they were pointing out that in the same post where you were criticizing them for what was pretty clearly a typo ("forth" instead of "fourth") you also made a typo ("quater" instead of "quarter") that changed the meaning.

>Quater also means multiply by 4.

Are you making the same typo or using a new word here? Let's get past the typo.

I have never seen the word quarter used to mean multiply by 4. If I was told to quarter something, I would divide it into fourths. When/where were you taught or come to understand that quarter means to multiply. If you quarter something, you went from one item to four items. Is that your understanding of multiplying? You didn't go to 4 items though you went to four 1/4 items.

I just have never in my experience seen quarter mean multiply by 4. If there's something to be learned, I'm up for learning it.

Nobody said "quarter" means multiply by 4. They said "quater" means multiply by 4, which it essentially does [1]. In addition to being a real word, it's also a prefix, e.g. "quaternary" means fourth in order.

You made a typo (quater) in correcting someone's else's typo (forth). Several people have pointed out the irony and have patiently tried to teach you a new word, but you seem to keep reading past all of them without comprehending ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[1] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/quater

>quater

Quater is not a unit (or a word) so why would it ever mean 'fourth'? Quarter is probably the word you're looking for.

I did find an obscure prefix:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/quater-

One is a typo, the other is using the wrong word.

"Forth" is just as easy a typo for "fourth" as "quater" is for "quarter". It's uncharitable to assume someone is using the wrong word when it's just as likely that they made a typo or misspelled the correct word.

Except that's not what happened if you read the other comments

"pebble" sounds small to the American ear.

More likely their product teams would have done better with a name that didn't refer to the portion size.

>More likely their product teams would have done better with a name that didn't refer to the portion size.

I propose: The PILE OF MEAT burger

The BIG PILE OF MEAT burger

The REALLY BIG PILE OF MEAT burger

Would you like another EXTRA BIG ASS FRIES

You laugh, but Texas already has Big Gas Burger (get it?), and yeah, it's 1/3 pound.

Totally agree with the approach. Here, but with fewer letters.

BURGER

FAT BURGER

BIG FAT BURGER

GINORMOUSLYUGE BIG FAT BURGER

(To encourage association of more letters more meat)

The GIANT PILE OF CHEAP-ASS MEAT BURGER

Uch I'm not a vegetarian or some health freak but the amount of meat they put in some dishes... It just completely overwhelms the taste. And at the risk of sounding like an eco warrior terrorist I think meat is too cheap if you can put an entire sausage on a €7 pizza. There is an environmental cost that isn't priced in- and a health cost too.

"Pile" typically refers to sliced deli meat, i.e. "pastrami piled high". You may confuse the customer into thinking that there's also deli meat on the burger when there isn't.

I think it was the motivation behind the "Thick Burger" from Carls Jr.

That's basically the Jack In The Box menu now.

Would "Bigger-Burger" have been too on the nose?

"Monster burger," "Megaburger," anything at all, really. Nothing's too on the nose in a country that happily ate large pieces of fried chicken in place of the bread in the "Double Down" sandwich.

I agree with GP that "Third pounder" was a terrible name.

“Quarter” has a nice big plosive at the beginning, which really gives it an impact. The “th” in third pounder makes it sound kind of weak in comparison.

Bigger Burger is great! Aliterates, rhyming, and TWO plosives!

I think this is probably the best of the alternatives proposed in these comments.

Hundred and fifty gramer.

plus pounder?

I hadn't heard the phrase "quarter pounder" before I came to the U.S. ... Heck we'd had McDonalds for a only a few years. I think there may have been at most a handful of locations through most of that time.

So, one night, we go to McDonalds and I see "quarter pounder" on the menu. It just sounds big ... waaaaayyy bigger than 113 grams (I have no problems converting among different units). But, subconsciously, I had expected something that would take some effort to eat.

I don't think I've had another one in the intervening decades.

“The Royale with Cheese”

What do they call a Big Mac?

Le Big Mac

Le Big Mac! Hahahaha. What do they call a Whopper?

strange, I find the "Royale" here still the best on their menu if it wasn't for the no-gluten options I nowadays prefer for digestive reasons. very glad they have those in Switzerland btw., their burger quality here is remarkably consistent and decent IMO.

You're suggesting they should have introduced metric units (grams) to an American audience or assume they'd recognize stone as a measure of weight?

I read it as the third in the series of "pounder" burgers, which just left me completely confused. I kept trying to recall what the first two "pounder" burgers were, which got in the way of thinking of it as a fraction.

I would have preferred "quarter and twelfth", advertised with a "I'll take an extra twelfth!" catch phrase :)

Agree. Third pounder does not exactly roll off the tongue.

"Turd pounder"

Quarter double pounder, Triple pounder?

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