Eileen Ford

I interview about three thousand models yearly, and I must see almost 20 tons of excess avoirdupois annually.

American Businesswoman

Used in professions or contexts requiring exact measurements of weight, like cooking or shipping.

Modern contexts rarely use 'avoirdupois'; it's usually historical or to convey old-fashioned complexity.

Scientific fields do not use 'avoirdupois'; they use metric measurements internationally.

In informal talk, 'avoirdupois' humorously refers to someone's body weight without using numbers.

Using 'avoirdupois' can soften the impact of directly talking about someone's weight.

Though historical, it can be used today for a comical or exaggerated effect.