# Know any less-usual units of measure? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 6, 2001, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431 "2001-07-06T02:05:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Opengrave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/919ad9/32.png) [@Opengrave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opengrave)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2001, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431/21 "2001-07-06T18:36:11Z")
**Darkthirty** - 30 minutes after dark (whenver that may be). EX: “I’ll met ya at the truck 'bout darkthirty kay?” **table of beer** - a term that comes into play when the waitress doesn’t remove empty bottles from your table fast enough. This results in an accumulation of bottles on the table that evenutally forces you to move to another table. EX: “You want to order some quesadillas?” “Lets finish this table then we can move over there and order” or alternately “man we drank four whole tables of beer last night” ---
**Author:** ![bashere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@bashere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bashere)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2001, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431/22 "2001-07-07T00:14:01Z")
> [@](#): > > Darkthirty - 30 minutes after dark (whenver that may be). Not to be confused with **OhDarkthirty** , which means, basically, too early in the morning to care. For instance, “what time do you want to start the road trip?” “Early - we’ll leave at **ohdarkthirty** ”. Also used when you really want some sleep “The demo is at 9am, what time is it now?” “ohdarkthirty”. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2001, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431/23 "2001-07-07T00:21:37Z")
**Grain** : (real) 7,000 grains equal one pound. **Slug** : (real) 14.59390 kg **Dram** : (real) 1/16 oz. **CUP (Copper Unit of Pressure)**: (real) The amount of crushing caused or the measured change in the mass of a standardized copper cylinder when exposed to the explosive force of a certain charge. Used to detrmine breach pressures in firearms and ordnance. **Sh!t-Pot Full** : (figurative) More than a lot, but less than a **Sh!tload**. **F\*ck-Ton** : (figurative) 10 **Sh!tloads**. **Metric F\*ck-Ton** : (figurative) Much more than a **F\*ck-Ton**. **RPH** (formerly **RCH** ): Red Pubic Hair; Red pubic hairs are rumored to be the finest (thinest) human hair; The smallest distance that can be measured by the un-aided human eye. ---
**Author:** ![Sultan\_Kinkari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7bcc69/32.png) [@Sultan\_Kinkari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sultan_Kinkari)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2001, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431/24 "2001-07-07T02:50:52Z")
A **block** - as in a city block A **ways** - a long distance A **while** - a long time A **bit** - unit of measurement A **piece** - a single serving **some** - an amount A **lot** - a large amount ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2001, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431/25 "2001-07-07T17:26:31Z")
Some of the lesser-known metric units used in cooking include the hectodab, microdollop, dekapinch, and decisoupçon. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2001, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431/26 "2001-07-07T17:28:00Z")
Half-past. Do not wake up until half-past if you want to avoid irritating my (late) grandfather when at the cottage. ---
**Author:** ![Rue\_DeDay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/41988e/32.png) [@Rue\_DeDay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rue_DeDay)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2001, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431/27 "2001-07-07T17:41:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rasa \* > **Well, in archaeology, we have a unit called TFD. Anything 50x50 cm square that you have to dig deeper than like 90 cm or so is Too Fuckin’ Deep, cuz you can barely reach the bottom.** Reminds me of BFD. That would be: a real big dog. A useful measurement in the kennel. (“A poodle or shih tzu will fit in the top cages, but you can put a BFD in the lowers.”) -Rue. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2001, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431/28 "2001-07-07T22:08:33Z")
Hmm, **fuckload**. This is a relative weight measurement: the weight necessary to make the lifter say, of course, “Fuck!” “Shitload” has always had a similar implication for me, and should, by all rights, be relatively lighter than a fuckload. ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2001, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431/29 "2001-07-07T22:20:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by erislover \* > \*\*Hmm, **fuckload**. This is a relative weight measurement: the weight necessary to make the lifter say, of course, “Fuck!” > > “Shitload” has always had a similar implication for me, and should, by all rights, be relatively lighter than a fuckload. \*\* In college, we determined that there were four shitloads in a fuckload, and two fuckloads in an oodle. Sua ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2001, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431/30 "2001-07-07T22:24:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jinxie \* > \*\ ***milliHelen** - the exact amount of beauty necessary to launch 1 ship. \*\* 🙂 What about a dollop? It’s a volume measurement for milk, used in Texan and Southern recipes. You tip the bottle over your cake batter; the milk makes a _dollop_ noise, and you have added a dollop of milk to the mix! ---
**Author:** ![City\_Gent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a87d85/32.png) [@City\_Gent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/City_Gent)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2001, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431/31 "2001-07-08T06:52:04Z")
For engineers of a certain gender and temperament, any distance too small to measure without using a micrometer is an “ass hair” or a “cunt hair”, depending on who is in the room. Why not just a hair? I think it’s because engineers deal with a lot of salty shop-floor types, so they’re always trying to act more down-to-earth than they really are. It’s most effectively used in combination with technical jargon. Example: The layout says the nozzle extension linkage is supposed to have an inch of clearance, but at 40% extension it passes about an **ass hair** from the inboard gas generator tank mounting clevis. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2001, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431/32 "2001-07-08T07:27:29Z")
This from Frank Tapson’s **[Dictionary of Units](http://www.ex.ac.uk/cimt/dictunit/dictunit.htm)** > [@](#): > > **barn** > > The barn is a very small unit of area used to express the cross-sectional area of the nucleus of an atom. It was defined in 1942 by Holloway and Baker (in Chicago) and the name was taken from the expression “as big as a barn door” which it was, relatively speaking, in their particular work with sub-atomic particles. > > 1 barn = 10[sup]-28[/sup] square metres > > Later, following on from that idea, the ‘shed’ an even smaller unit was defined, but this seems never to have been taken up by the scientific community. > > 1 shed = 10[sup]-24[/sup] barns = 10[sup]-52[/sup] square metres Lest you think such a small unit could have no use, remember that a shed represents an area of aproximately 3.83 x 10[sup]17[/sup] square planck lengths. ## Tris Rule of Reason: “If nobody uses it, there’s a reason.” ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2001, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431/33 "2001-07-08T10:18:40Z")
**Breadbox** - as in ‘bigger than’ or ‘smaller than’. (Does anyone still use breadboxes? I haven’t seen one for sale commercially, only at garage sales.) ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2001, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431/34 "2001-07-08T14:07:53Z")
> [@](#): > > **B.S.H.** British Standard Handful. The unit by which breasts are often measured. Much more rude slang from[here](http://www.viz.co.uk/profanisaurus/profanis.htm) ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431/35 "2001-07-09T10:44:01Z")
Long distances between towns in outback Australia are measured in sixpacks. “How far to Wilcannia, mate?” “Aah, that’d be a two sixpack drive”. [sub]Don’t drink and drive, folks.[/sub] Then there’s the chaos of what to ask for in an Australian pub. Beer glass sizes have [quaint names](http://www.australianbeers.com/pubs/ordering/ordering.htm), and they vary from state to state. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431/36 "2001-07-09T11:12:09Z")
How about a **Knob** or occasionally **nut** of butter? A **Sheaf** of papers A **Brace** of pheasants ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431/37 "2001-07-09T13:29:26Z")
I believe that porno directors determine the running times of their art using the ‘time to climax’ as a measure, thus a two wank movie is…, well I wouldn’t actually know but you get the idea. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431/38 "2001-07-09T13:39:53Z")
On a Saturday night one might go out and get a **snootful** (or an **assful** , depending on how vulgar one wants to be). ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431/39 "2001-07-09T14:48:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scarlett67 \* > depending on how vulgar one wants to be And depending on what one plans to fill up on, I would think. ---
**Author:** ![nerv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85e7bf/32.png) [@nerv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nerv)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431/40 "2001-07-09T15:31:50Z")
The ohnosecond: The instant of time between doing something incredibly stupid and realizing what you’ve done. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/know-any-less-usual-units-of-measure/71431.md?page=3)