Obscure Units Of Measurement

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Question promted by the measurement "The Hand" which is 4" and only ever seems to be used for measuring horses.

What other obscure measurements for limited uses can you think of?

And has the Metric system supplanted them or not?

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:47 (nineteen years ago)

Gills?

― Tom D., Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:49 (nineteen years ago)

What did the gill measure?

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:50 (nineteen years ago)

Spirits. And then there's the dram!

― Tom D., Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:52 (nineteen years ago)

It measures bouze, innit

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:53 (nineteen years ago)

Is a dram an actual measurement? I always thought my gran's "Wee dram" was just arbitrary.

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:53 (nineteen years ago)

But Tom D. these are hardly obscure - the word "gill" (or "1/4 gill") is printed on the optics of pretty much every pub in England!

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:54 (nineteen years ago)

I liked gills. Getting a 1/4 gill was better than getting 35ml (and not just because it was 35 and bit ml). Also 1/5 gill is about 28ml but all the new optics are for 25ml. Rip off Britain etc...

Metrication has meant that this pub has a redundant name
http://www.citikey.com/images/business/10101509.jpg
and is selling shorter measures than the name suggests.

― onimo, Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:54 (nineteen years ago)

Chains - used in surveying, but now really only used to survey the UK rail network.

― Forest Pines, Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:54 (nineteen years ago)

I'm a rod and cubit fan, myself

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:54 (nineteen years ago)

Well, it would be obscure if you didn't drink or didn't go in pubs! I'd never head of the Gill! By obscure, I mean only really used to measure one specific thing.

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:54 (nineteen years ago)

(one chain = 1/80 of a mile, or the length of the wicket in cricket)

― Forest Pines, Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:56 (nineteen years ago)

Cubits don't count, as they were used for measuring all sorts of things, from Pyramids to Arks.

Never mind that no one actually knows how big one actually was, but still.

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:56 (nineteen years ago)

wiki claims there's a Quarter Gill pub in Edinburgh that serves 35.5ml or proper 1/4 gills despite metrication. Maybe they meant the Glasgow pub and I'm wrong about the short measures.

― onimo, Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:56 (nineteen years ago)

The "chain", a measure of length - 22 yards, or 100 links.
The "link", equal to 7.92 inches
The "furlong" (which I remember old ppl using when I was a kid, honest), 10 chains, or 1/8th of a mile.
The "virgate", a measure of area - equal to 30 acres
The "hide", equal to 4 virgates.

― Pashmina, Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:57 (nineteen years ago)

Aren't chains measured with regards to ships or shipping, as well?

Oh god, and what is the difference between a Furlong and a Fathom? Or a League?

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:58 (nineteen years ago)

Dram = 1/8 of a fluid ounce

― Tom D., Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:58 (nineteen years ago)

Isn't the hide what the Domesday Book used for its measures of area?

― Forest Pines, Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:59 (nineteen years ago)

The "furlong" (which I remember old ppl using when I was a kid, honest)

Horse racing!!!!!!

― Tom D., Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:59 (nineteen years ago)

Furlongs get used a lot in horse racing, methinks.

Fathom is simply a measure of *depth*, right?

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:59 (nineteen years ago)

Leagues and fathoms I find hard to, er, fathom.

also, why should a nautical mile be different from a mile over land. Q.v. travelling at a rate of knots.

I seem to recall that 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea would actually be through the centre of the earth and out the other side.

― Grandpont Genie, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:00 (nineteen years ago)

Furlong used in horse-racing I think?

I think a fathom is 6 feet. Or it might be 6 yards.

― Colonel Poo, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:01 (nineteen years ago)

A peck? Something to do with booze again? Or barrels or sumthin'?

― Tom D., Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:01 (nineteen years ago)

damn xposts

― Colonel Poo, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:01 (nineteen years ago)

A fathom was originally the distance between your left and right hands at furthest stretch; it was standardised at 6 feet.

― Forest Pines, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:01 (nineteen years ago)

And a bushel of course!

― Tom D., Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:02 (nineteen years ago)

Also, despite working for a diamond importer for a year, I can never remember which is carat and which is karat. The former is the purity of gold, the latter the weight of a diamond, or is it the other way around?

Also, proof is the weirdest measurement ever - isn't it the explosability of a bit of cotton in which that particular spirit has been soaked, or something odd like that?

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:02 (nineteen years ago)

Although the title does of course refer to a distance travelled under the sea not a depth.

― Ed, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:02 (nineteen years ago)

xposts

― Ed, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:02 (nineteen years ago)

A peck is a unit of dry weight roundish objects like fruit. "Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers".

Apples were measured in pecks.

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:03 (nineteen years ago)

Cubits do measure one particular thing, actually: length

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:03 (nineteen years ago)

That fathom = 6' thing doesn't make sense. Because isn't a yard the length of your arm? And a yard = 3' so what about the width of your body? Or were sailors really skinny back then?

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:04 (nineteen years ago)

But of course, there's US Pecks and Bushels and Imperial Pecks and Bushels

― Tom D., Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:05 (nineteen years ago)

In rocket (and rollercoaster) mechanics: the jerk (metres per second per second per second) and the jounce (metres per second per second per second per second).

― Mark C, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:05 (nineteen years ago)

Cubits do measure one particular thing, actually: length

But they measure the length of all different things! Have you ever heard of a Hand being used to measure anything but horses?

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:05 (nineteen years ago)

Peck's more used for liquids in the UK I think

― Tom D., Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:05 (nineteen years ago)

Barrels of oil! Or does beer get sold in Barrels, too? Though I think the standard size of a beer Barrel is smaller than the standard size of an oil Barrel.

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:06 (nineteen years ago)

But not one particular liquid

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:06 (nineteen years ago)

Because isn't a yard the length of your arm?

I thought a yard was the lenght of your stride? Or is that just a convenient way of measuring it?

― Tom D., Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:07 (nineteen years ago)

According to Wikipedia, a British Fathom was 1/1000th of a nautical mile, slightly over 6 feet. Doesn't mention the arms thing.

― Colonel Poo, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:08 (nineteen years ago)

No, this is yard as in the length of cloth. You would hold the cloth in your fingertips, and then pull it to your shoulder. This is why people would prefer tall tailors, but tailors would prefer to get their boy to measure the cloth. There's a whole thing in [i]The Mill On The Floss{/i] about a boy selling fabric this way, but doing something dodgy with his thumb to cheat the customer.

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:08 (nineteen years ago)

I forgot about horse racing! I remember asking directions once, and the guy I asked said the destination was about a furlong down that road. I remembered it b/c one of my dad's old friend's surname was furlong. It's a funny word, innit.

Hundreds of old measures here:

http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/units/length/length.fathom.en.html

― Pashmina, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:09 (nineteen years ago)

Though I think the standard size of a beer Barrel is smaller than the standard size of an oil Barrel.

should hope so, barrel of oil is 42 US gallons or 159 litres!

― Grandpont Genie, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:10 (nineteen years ago)

hogshead hogshead roly poly hogshead

― electricsound, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:10 (nineteen years ago)

I thought the measurement for horse was grams?

― StanM, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:11 (nineteen years ago)

Ohmigod, that's awesome. Can I translate fathoms into cubits?

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:11 (nineteen years ago)

finger!

― onimo, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:11 (nineteen years ago)

gimme three fingers of red eye!

― onimo, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:12 (nineteen years ago)

Getting back to booze, I only learned last night that a jigger is not merely a short pour, but an actual precise amount. Ounce and a half, I think.

― Oilyrags, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:13 (nineteen years ago)

Is a Tun a measurement of bouze or just the name for a barrel?

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:13 (nineteen years ago)

Moles

― Tom D., Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:14 (nineteen years ago)

Also, despite working for a diamond importer for a year, I can never remember which is carat and which is karat. The former is the purity of gold, the latter the weight of a diamond, or is it the other way around?

Carat refers to diamond weight and is named because of a seed. It not only refers to a diamond weight, but any gem weight. (I think pearls are measured in millimeters though, not so much carat weight.) You can just as easily ask the carat weight of a sapphire . But many people wrongly assume that the carat is the *size* of the stone. It does have some effect but a sapphire of 1 carat won't look the same as a 1 carat diamond.

Karat is the gold purity. 24 kt being pure gold, but of course rarely used in jewellery itself as it's too malleable (?). It is mised and can range (in jewellery) from 8 to 22 karat. Here in Belgium we usually use 18 karat gold. Germany uses about 8 or nine? England 14 karat? People (wrongly but also rightly) assume that the purer the gold, the softer the metal. This is true, but 18 karat is still very much wearable and won't wear much quicker than 14 karat (in my opinion) as some jewellers (in England/US) like to pretend, making it easier to sell 14 kt gold. Gold is often mixed with diffent metals to obtain a different colour, ranging from pink to white and even green.

― nathalie, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:16 (nineteen years ago)

a jiffy = 1/60 of a second?

― StanM, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:16 (nineteen years ago)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement

― StanM, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:17 (nineteen years ago)

a ba' hair = 2.37mm?

― Tom D., Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:17 (nineteen years ago)

― Tom D., Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:18 (nineteen years ago)

Ah, thanks Nath! I had it the wrong way around.

But yeah, I remember the weight thing from having to track shipments on various stones. Diamonds are particularly dense, I think.

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:18 (nineteen years ago)

and the less humorous ones:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_strange_units_of_measurement

― StanM, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:18 (nineteen years ago)

Well, I think lots actually swap the spellings. It's not that big of a deal (for some). But being a jeweller, it is for me! ;-)

― nathalie, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:19 (nineteen years ago)

yes! I knew a Proof was weird:

Alcohol concentration: proof
Up to the 20th century, alcoholic spirits were assessed in the UK by mixing with gunpowder and testing the mixture to see if it would still burn; spirit that just passed the test was said to be at 100° proof. The UK now uses percentage alcohol by volume at 20°C, where spirit at 100° proof is approximately 57.15% ABV; the U.S. uses a proof number of twice the ABV at 60°F (15.5°C).

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:24 (nineteen years ago)

firkins and tuns

Hurrah, this solves the mystery.

Why is ale and beer measured in different gallons? Argh!

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:28 (nineteen years ago)

I've never understood how they measure a Scoville heat unit until now. Still seems like a bit of an inexact science.

― peteR, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:40 (nineteen years ago)

What about Tog Ratings?

― Tom D., Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:42 (nineteen years ago)

Therms?

― Tom D., Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:43 (nineteen years ago)

But Tom D. these are hardly obscure - the word "gill" (or "1/4 gill") is printed on the optics of pretty much every pub in England!

Off-topic, but I don't know where else I might find an answer. What does "optics" refer to in this sentence? I heard an interview with Robert Smith years ago in which he said that he and his pals used to go to a pub and "knock out the optics, drink with a straw, and get [wasted]"

I always pictured some kind of lens that covered a keg. It never made sense. Help?

― Jesse, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:53 (nineteen years ago)

optics

― peteR, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:57 (nineteen years ago)

do these not exist elsewhere? I am not a great spirit drinker, so I have never noticed one way or t'other when abroad.

― Grandpont Genie, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:58 (nineteen years ago)

"One rod, chain, pole, or perch" as my mother used to say. I have no idea what she was on about but I've always assumed they obscure and equal units of measurements. Those crazy imperialists.

― ledge, Thursday, 29 March 2007 13:59 (nineteen years ago)

Also, if anyone here has not yet discovered the joy of obscure units in google calculator: the speed of light in furlongs per fortnight

― ledge, Thursday, 29 March 2007 14:00 (nineteen years ago)

I've always assumed they wereobscure and equal units of measurements

― ledge, Thursday, 29 March 2007 14:01 (nineteen years ago)

> In rocket (and rollercoaster) mechanics: the jerk (metres per second per second per second) and the jounce (metres per second per second per second per second).

that's not really a unit of measurement though, any more than 'velocity' is, jerks are the rate of change of acceleration, jounce is the rate of change of jerks. jounce is also known as 'snap' and the two deriviatives after it are 'crackle' and 'pop'. physics jokes!

― koogs, Thursday, 29 March 2007 14:01 (nineteen years ago)

Oh. I saw "optics" once at a Tequila bar and thought, OMG, tequila on tap!? I might have seen them since then, but not very frequently at all.

The websites for "bar optics" all seem to be .uk

― Jesse, Thursday, 29 March 2007 14:07 (nineteen years ago)

doing my own homework...

A rod is the same length as a perch[1] and a pole. The lengths of the perch (one rod) and chain (four rods) were standardized in 1607 by Edmund Gunter.

"standardized"

A perch is also a unit of area of land = 1 square rod, and a unit of cubic measure of stonework, usually = 16.5 feet by 1 foot by 1.5 feet = 24.75 cubic feet.

― ledge, Thursday, 29 March 2007 14:08 (nineteen years ago)

i remember reading somewhere that the metric system was ruining architecture but now i can't remember the arguments put forth.

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 29 March 2007 14:12 (nineteen years ago)

Balls, I was going to say barn (10^-28 m2) and shed (10^-52 m2) but I think they're covered in that Wikipedia article. Barn-megaparsec, eh? Scientists are funny. Who hasn't spent an afternoon combining derived SI units to see how the base units cancel out, eh? Henry-candela!

― Michael Jones, Thursday, 29 March 2007 14:14 (nineteen years ago)

stone - this is pretty obscure. only used to measure british and irish people, right?

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 29 March 2007 14:18 (nineteen years ago)

this thread needs pictures:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/graphics/art3/0917041_edward_furlong_1.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/84/Garry_bushell.jpg/180px-Garry_bushell.jpg

http://www.bestseatsusa.com/images/vincegill2.jpg

― CharlieNo4, Thursday, 29 March 2007 14:33 (nineteen years ago)

Is the top one Tubes?

― peteR, Thursday, 29 March 2007 14:34 (nineteen years ago)

Parsangs and stadia.

― Aimless, Thursday, 29 March 2007 18:39 (nineteen years ago)

five months pass...

EU gives up on 'metric Britain'

European Union commissioners have ruled that Britain can carry on using imperial measurements such as pints, pounds and miles.
Europe's Industry Commissioner Gunter Verheugenas said: "There is not now and never will be any requirement to drop imperial measurements."
The decision will not affect current law on metric measurements, but means imperial equivalents can be used too.
It follows years of wrangling between London and Brussels over metrication

― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 18:51 (eighteen years ago)

fifteen years pass...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fm7WFdZWAAIg-gB.jpg

― mookieproof, Friday, 20 January 2023 20:58 (three years ago)

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