Any other what's?

I wouldn't assume apple cider vinegar, unless it was your mom's recipe, but if the context doesn't call for something else, it should get job done as well or better than any others. :) Most of my recipes call for rice wine vinegar, sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar.

I grew up with tbsp and tsp, though have certainly seen T and t, and the newer usage, which I've been following, is the easiest to differentiate, by being both: TBSP and tsp. For people with aging eyes, blotted recipes, or too small sanserif fonts on their phones, this is easiest to see correctly. So long as it can be easily understood, the nomenclature doesn't really matter.

I doubt that my mother had rice wine vinegar back in her 1950's kitchen. Certainly not sherry vinegar. Or red wine vinegar. Maybe if we were of Italian or Asian background, but in an average non-ethic 1950's home, those things would be rare.

Agreed....T and t....and c....and apple cider vinegar unless it says white vinegar or wine vinegar or something else.
And Flour is ap unless something else and bp is double acting baking powder....and shortening is crisco unless it says lard or butter.

My mother had those vinegars in the 1970's. The only non-cleaning thing I remember white vinegar used for is egg dye kits, but there might have been other things I don't remember. We did have apple cider vinegar in the house, but for most things, my mother used one of the three I mentioned above. The rice wine vinegar came in the biggest bottle.

Agreed that flour is AP unless specified, but shortening would be by context. Sometimes it means vegetable shortening, but in many of our old recipes it means any solid shortening, including butter or margarine, dealer's choice, and the baker should know what the differences are. In some cases. it might even include liquid oil. and doesn't exclude lard, though the closest we had was chicken schmaltz, which always had onion in it, so context of when it wouldn't be an option is pretty obvious.

I generally use Tblsp and tsp to make it totally clear what I mean, as some (I guess less comfortable with writing) people freely interchange capital and lower case letters ungrammatically, so you can't always assume they mean what you think they mean.

Here AC vinegar is not rare but not the norm; I would assume either white or white malt vinegar unless the recipe state "AC (or some other kind) vinegar".

I always use T, t and c when writing recipes. Unless a specific vinegar is called for I always use whatever I have on hand (which is usually apple cider) and sometimes even if it is, I still just use the cider rather than go buy an expensive vinegar.

And then there's butter and unsalted butter. And milk? which percent, 2 or whole? I remember growing up with powdered milk … and spam (but that's another thread).

Koolaide was always on hand. Two packets and a ton of sugar (to taste) to a pitcher.

My mom also taught me to interpret the older recipes written by my Grams the same way (t = tbs., T = Tbs.) as well as 'oleo' for margarine. Can't remember any other unusual translations : )

Same with me...T and t.

I'd forgotten about 'oleo.' That was a long time ago.

"Sugar" meant white cane sugar.

And, any herb amount was always dried herbs because few had herb gardens and fresh wasn't readily available in every grocery. I remember needing to triple the herb amount when using fresh.

I use TBSP (always capitalized) and tsp (never capitalized).

I've always used TB and tsp

And a 10 cent can of tuna.....
I have several old cook books put out as find raisers by various groups....a couple from about 1918....
Things like a knob of butter... and a nickle's worth of salt pork.

Besides C, T and t I use a lot of abbreviations in the recipes I copy. Most people would be able to quickly figure them out:

GF, 350F, AP, WW, FP, KA, BP, soda, OO, cano, s&p, parch, BTB, RTS, wsk, vig, const, min, vin, sug, pow sug, brn, mlt, rm temp, toothpick.

gluten free, 350 degrees Fahrenheit, all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, food processor, Kitchenaid, baking powder, baking (bicarbonate of) soda, olive oil, canola oil, salt & pepper, parchment, bring to boil, return to simmer, vigorously, constantly, minute(s), vinegar, sugar, (confectioner's) powdered sugar, brown(ed), whisk, melt(ed), room temperature, "until toothpick put in center comes out clean".

Well, for personal use if I copy cake or pie recipes for instance, it's just a list of ingredients then "Do in the usual way". :-)

Vinegar when I was young was always assumed to be white wine vinegar unless specified. Parents had both white and red, and the other sorts of vinegars didn't appear in their house until later years.

I also grew up with tbsp and tsp but recognized T and t, but since so many recipes were hand written that we used, the capital and small t's looked too much alike so we avoided doing that.

I use RT for room temperature, a hold over from my career in the sciences. C would be easy to figure out. EVOO - I'm using that abbreviation often now.

We always used T for tablespoon and t for teaspoon, and c for cup. The first thought for cooking with vinegar in my house is apple cider vinegar. The white vinegar is normally used for cleaning, but occasionally cooking.

All the abbreviations are what I grew up with and use, except, any recipe that said vinegar was white vinegar UNLESS it said apple cider vinegar. That was a vinegar that was very seldom used. I am from and all of my family is from Alabama and Mississippi if that makes any difference.

Def. use the T & t & c. for cup, also bkg pdr for baking powder and a lot of other abbreviations for my own use.

But if I'm sharing a recipe, it's Tbs, tsp & cup, specified ingredients and no abbreviations.