# Odd units of measure. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 3, 2005, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226 "2005-11-03T02:39:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/61 "2005-11-07T16:10:34Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > Less we not forget Doug Adams’ contribution to Units of Measure with **Cafe Mathematics** which I can’t remember at this point, but I’m sure another doper knows verbatim. Not “cafe”–"bistro. The Bistromathic drive, as used in Slartibartfast’s _Starship Bistromath_. It works on the principles of relativity as applied to numbers. Just as Einstein observed that neither space nor time are absolute, with space dependent on the observer’s movement in time, and time dependent on the observer’s movement in space, so too are numbers not absolute. They depend upon the observer’s movement in restaurants. Bistromathics includes the concept of recipriversexclusion, which means something becoms anything other than itself. The first nonabsolute number is the number of people for whom the table is reserved. The second nonabsolute number is the time of arrival, which is a recipriversexclusion. The given time of arrival for the reservation is guaranteed to be the only time where no guests will arrive. (On a side note, recipriversexclusion is the underlying concept between the “Somebody Else’s Problem” field.) The third nonabsolute is the relationship between the number of items on the bill, the cost of each, the number of people at the table, and what each is prepared to pay for, with the number of people who have actually brought any money being a sub-phenomenon in this field. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/62 "2005-11-07T16:34:15Z")
Dribs and drabs, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/63 "2005-11-07T16:55:49Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > The landlord of my local was complaining that he could only order a particular beer from a wholesaler by the hogshead… A former coworker of mine talked of his times as a physics undergrad: “Our class had the task of coming up with the most bizarre system of physical units we could possibly imagine, just to prove it was possible to work with _anything_. For our unit of electric charge, we chose the charge on **a hogshead of electrons**.” How they were to pack electrons into a barrel is still a mystery to me… ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/64 "2005-11-07T16:59:25Z")
Oh, and before I forget: **[Why We Need The Metric System](http://www.rogermwilcox.name/measures.html)** ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/65 "2005-11-07T18:30:24Z")
Moles, anyone? Yes, if you’re into counting molecules, very helpful, but still odd. And we would often, on long boring deployments onboard aircraft carriers, determine the amount of uranium depleted each hour. The favored unit was atoms/hour. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/66 "2005-11-07T18:51:06Z")
> [@Sean Factotum](#): > > And we would often, on long boring deployments onboard aircraft carriers, determine the amount of uranium depleted each hour. The favored unit was atoms/hour. I’ll bite (assuming it’s not classified). How much does an aircraft carrier deplete in an hour? ---
**Author:** ![Klytus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Klytus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klytus)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/67 "2005-11-07T19:57:46Z")
> [@Podkayne](#): > > A common unit in my field, which, I’m ashamed to admit, I sometimes in actual, peer-reviewed publications, is the kkm. > > That’s the kilo-kilometer. > > Otherwise known as a million meters. > > Now, there is a perfectly good metric prefix for a million: mega, or M. But nobody ever talks about megameters. Mm? Have you ever seen that unit used? So obviously that’s ridiculous. > > But kkm is somehow better? > > It’s a quandry, I tell you. Did you never watch _Star Blazers_? they were always talking about how far away enemy ships were in terms of mega-meters. I remember the crew of the Argo was quite happy with the fact that in the second season (the Comet Empire) their guns could hit targets 10 mega-meters away. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/68 "2005-11-07T20:34:50Z")
For anyone who’s keeping score, Smoot is now the chairman of the National Institute of Standards. No, really. ---
**Author:** ![Redwing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dfb087/32.png) [@Redwing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redwing)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/69 "2005-11-07T20:45:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > For anyone who’s keeping score, Smoot is now the chairman of the National Institute of Standards. No, really. Not quite, at least according to NIST’s [webpage](http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/orgchart.htm). However, he does seem to have been the chairman of [ANSI and the ISO](http://www.ansi.org/other_services/speakers_bureau/smoot.aspx?menuid=10) [/useless knowledge] ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/70 "2005-11-07T21:50:54Z")
Time is often measured in the Jiffy, sometimes this is combined with the toowit. The circular toowits are the most useful in this regard, as any task means you will have to get around toowit in a jiffy. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/71 "2005-11-07T23:27:57Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > I knew a guy in college who measured his gas mileage in parsecs per cubic mile. I had no luck convincing him to use the SI unit, m[sup]-2[/sup]. “The metric system is a tool of the Devil! My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead, and that’s the way I likes it!” – Grampa Simpson ---
**Author:** ![gooftroopag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gooftroopag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gooftroopag)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/72 "2005-11-08T00:20:44Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > It’s not really a measure, but I remember when Pat Buchanan wanted to build a wall along the US-Mexican border. Some people criticized it by saying, “it would be visible from space.” I though it was a (nearly) perfectly idiotic idea, but I never understood how visibility from space had anything to do with it. I can think of three reasons: 1. If God is really watching us “from a distance” a wall seen from space would be a clear indication that we have problems that we’re incapable of working out on our own. 2. Other life forms would recognize the wall as “unnatural” and would start sending probes to the Earth to figure out what the wall was all about. 3. It just ain’t pretty. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gooftroopag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gooftroopag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gooftroopag)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/73 "2005-11-08T00:31:46Z")
Oops - forgot to mention my favorite “Odd unit of measure” Fathom (equals 6 feet). I believe it comes from an Old English term that means “outstetched arms.” ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/74 "2005-11-08T00:49:48Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > “If all the girls at Vassar were laid end to end, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.”–attributed to Dorothy Parker. > > “If all the people who fall asleep in church were laid end to end, they would be a lot more comfortable.”–attributed to Mrs. Robert Taft If all the economists in the world were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion. > [@Xema](#): > > For an odd unit of measure in widespread use, I nominate the KCMIL. > > What is a KCMIL? Very simple - it’s 1000 CMILs. > > What is a CMIL? It’s a circular MIL. > > A mil, as I’m sure everyone knows, is one-thousanth of an inch. A circular mil is an area equal to that of a circle whose diameter is one mil. > > KCMILs are used to measure very large wires (that is, wires with very large cross-sectional area). They kick in for wires larger than 4-ought (0000 or 4/0) - one of the few units of measurement that could make a KCMIL look sensible. How do you pronounce that? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/75 "2005-11-08T02:16:30Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Let’s not forget the “Millihelen.” That’s the amount of beauty required to launch a single ship. Not to mention the -mH, the degree of ugliness necessary to sink one ship. The only large acceptable unit for liquid volume in Australia is the Sydney Harbour. Every dam, reservoir, river outflow, lake, bay, bight, cove, inlet, or downpour of rain is measured by the SHful. ---
**Author:** ![Cincoflex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Cincoflex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cincoflex)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/76 "2005-11-08T02:36:31Z")
Well, I always wondered and worried about things measured as “a smidge” or “knee-high to a grasshopper” or “Since Hector was a pup” a smidge is a bug, right? Or is that a midge? And who’s Hector? ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/77 "2005-11-08T05:00:32Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Wasn’t the “bigger than a breadbox” expression used frequently on the old TV quiz show, “What’s My Line?” According to [this cached page,](http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:yBYDOPu42PcJ:www.comedystars.com/Bios/allen_steve.shtml+%22bigger+than+a+breadbox%22+Steve+Allen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8) the phrase was ad-libbed by Steve Allen when he was a panelist on the show. Since **casdave** mentioned the _jiffy_, I feel compelled to mention that there are several [“official” definitions](http://www.answers.com/jiffy&r=67) of that word, with .01 second the one I’ve seen quoted in numerous trivia columns and quizzes. **cincoflex** : Here’s a [discussion](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000228) of _since Hector was a pup_. The person mentioned is probably the brother of Paris of Trojan War fame. Paris’s kidnapping of a certain beauty inspired the coining of the _millihelen_ term mentioned earlier in this thread. I thought of the “compressing the history of the universe/Earth/human civilization into a day” comparison I’ve seen several times. Example (off the top of my head, so not accurate): “If the earth is created at midnight, the first living creatures don’t emerge until 3 p.m. Dinosaurs show up around 10:45 p.m. With forty-five seconds to go in the day, _Australopithecus_ takes his first steps. Christ is born five milliseconds before midnight strikes again.” ---
**Author:** ![Fritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Fritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fritz)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/78 "2005-11-08T06:09:03Z")
Did I miss “skosh?” As in “move it this way a bit…just a skosh.” I’ve a feeling that “Skosh” is roughly equal to RCH… ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/79 "2005-11-08T10:09:58Z")
> [@Fritz](#): > > Did I miss “skosh?” As in “move it this way a bit…just a skosh.” > > I’ve a feeling that “Skosh” is roughly equal to RCH… I’ll take a WAG and say that “skosh” sounds like a contraction/Anglification of “sukoshi”, Japanese for “a little”. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/80 "2005-11-08T10:16:07Z")
> [@Case Sensitive](#): > > I’ll take a WAG and say that “skosh” sounds like a contraction/Anglification of “sukoshi”, Japanese for “a little”. Who da Man? [_I_ da Man!](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sko1.htm) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226.md?page=5)