# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![coop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/87869e/32.png) [@coop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coop)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/81 "2005-11-08T13:01:08Z")
There’s also the Jumbo Jet measurement. As in how many Jumbo Jets will fit inside the Luxor Casino in Vegas. From memory, it was nine on the ground floor and then x-amount piled on top. (Now is that 747-400s or which model???) ---
**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 8, 2005, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/82 "2005-11-08T16:28:46Z")
This just in from [FOXNews.](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,174793,00.html) > [@](#): > > Capping a 5-year-long saga of destruction, an iceberg about the size of the Hawaiian island of Maui has split into three pieces in the frigid Antarctic, scientists said. > > The larger iceberg, named B-15A (search), calved into three smaller icebergs — B-15M, B-15N and B-15P. Two of the larger icebergs (B-15M and B-15N) are about the size of Grand Cayman (search) and St. Croix (search), respectively. Now you know exactly how big they are. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/83 "2005-11-08T16:53:34Z")
Has anyone mentioned a gnat’s whisker ? ---
**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 8, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/84 "2005-11-08T17:48:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Since casdave mentioned the jiffy, I feel compelled to mention that there are several “official” definitions of that word, with .01 second the one I’ve seen quoted in numerous trivia columns and quizzes. Huh. As a physicist, I’ve encountered numerous definitions of “jiffy”, but none of them is .01 second. To a physicist, it can mean the amount of time needed for light to travel a meter (never a foot), or to travel the diameter of an atom, or the Planck time, or (in models with discrete time) the shortest interval between discrete frames (this may or may not be comparable to the Planck time, and (in computer contexts) may not even be convertible to other time units at all). And **gooftroopag** , if a fathom is the oddest English unit you’ve ever encountered, I’m going to guess that there are a lot of them you’ve never heard of. Just for length alone, you’ve also got the mil, point, inch, hand, link, foot, cubit, yard, ell, rod, chain, furlong, cable, mile, nautical mile, and league. For volume, there’s the cubes of all of those, and also such lovely units as drams, jiggers, and hogsheads (plus many more I won’t mention). And just to show that metric isn’t immune to such silliness, there’s a unit of area called the barn (as in the broadside of a) equal to 10[sup]-28[/sup] square meters. It’s particularly useful in particle physics. That, and one of my professors likes to measure the sugar for his tea in megaparsec-barns. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/85 "2005-11-08T18:22:41Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Quick, how big was an Eohippus? > (I’ll bet every single person who reads this post first thought of a particular breed of dog. Gould wrote an interesting essay about that phenomenon. I think it applies to the “football field” as a unit of areal measurement, too. No. First they thought “What the HELL is an Eohippus?” Then they thought, “Must be some kind of a hippopotamus or something.” Then they thought, “Hey isn’t that the Greek for “river horse”? Then they thought 'So it must be the size of a wet horse.” Easy as pie. ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/86 "2005-11-08T18:23:22Z")
The reciprocal of electrical resistance (R is measured in **Ohm** s) is conductance. 1/Ohm is technically a Siemens, but is often colloquially called the **mhO**. What’s more, the symbol for Ohms is **Ω** , but the mhO is drawn as an upside-down Omega (see [this picture](http://en.wikipedia.org/math/5/9/a/59a55e6223a7756c9858f7b09cbd7855.png)) and looks like a harp or a funky cursive **U**. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/87 "2005-11-08T18:36:24Z")
Without a doubt, the crewiest scientific units are those used for radiometry and photometry. **Candle** and **Foot-Candle** are Okay, and it doesn’t bother me to make iot metric with a **candela** , but then they have to throw in all these other mutant units: **Stilb Phot Lux Lumen Nit** Don’t say the names too fast or you’ll have to wash your own mouth out with soap. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/88 "2005-11-08T18:47:46Z")
I have a problem with the “Why We Need the Metric System Chart” It defines the firkin as 9 gallons. I can live with that. It defines the kilderkin as 2 firkins. Also acceptable. You have to figure that would be 18 gallons. It defines the barrel as 2 kilderkins, which would be 36 gallons. Except that the chart shows the barrel as being 31.5 gallons. This does not compute. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/89 "2005-11-09T00:00:23Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > I have a problem with the “Why We Need the Metric System Chart” > > It defines the firkin as 9 gallons. I can live with that. > It defines the kilderkin as 2 firkins. Also acceptable. You have to figure that would be 18 gallons. > It defines the barrel as 2 kilderkins, which would be 36 gallons. Except that the chart shows the barrel as being 31.5 gallons. > > This does not compute. Certainly seems to be off by a smidgin. ---
**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 9, 2005, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/90 "2005-11-09T03:10:49Z")
> [@](#): > > This does not compute. Believe it or not, there were times and places where such mutually-inconsistent unit conversions were actually encoded. Presumably, one was supposed to either deduce the meaning from context, or to pretend that there was no problem. Or, if there was a dispute, to decide it using whichever interpretation was more favorable to whomever had the larger army or more favor at court. Then again, there was a time in the US when there were independent definitions for the ampere, volt, ohm, which is two independant definitions too many. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/91 "2005-11-09T03:16:52Z")
How about the ubiquitous “shitload,” “assload,” and “pantload?” ---
**Author:** ![Vipros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/50afbb/32.png) [@Vipros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vipros)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/92 "2005-11-09T13:29:06Z")
Particular favourites of mine include the unit of sound measured as number of mimes per crypt; (as in “it’s quieter than a crypt full of mimes” speculation is welcome as to whether a full crypt is quieter than an empty one…) and the measure of temperature based on your mum and a beverage of choice (I personally use lambrini) i.e. “it’s hotter than your mum after a bottle of Lambrini” ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/93 "2005-11-09T18:33:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And **gooftroopag** , if a fathom is the oddest English unit you’ve ever encountered, I’m going to guess that there are a lot of them you’ve never heard of. Just for length alone, you’ve also got the mil, point, inch, hand, link, foot, cubit, yard, ell, rod, chain, furlong, cable, mile, nautical mile, and league. For volume, there’s the cubes of all of those, and also such lovely units as drams, jiggers, and hogsheads (plus many more I won’t mention). Okay, some of these are (at least to the average non-scientist) a bit obscure, and the whole “mile =/= nautical mile” thing bugs me, but what’s so odd about about an inch? Or a foot, or a mile? They seem pretty universal to me. ---
**Author:** ![gooftroopag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gooftroopag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gooftroopag)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226/94 "2005-11-09T19:52:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And **gooftroopag** , if a fathom is the oddest English unit you’ve ever encountered, I’m going to guess that there are a lot of them you’ve never heard of. Just for length alone, you’ve also got the mil, point, inch, hand, link, foot, cubit, yard, ell, rod, chain, furlong, cable, mile, nautical mile, and league. For volume, there’s the cubes of all of those, and also such lovely units as drams, jiggers, and hogsheads (plus many more I won’t mention). I wouldn’t say it’s the oddest English unit I’ve encountered, but I think it’s definitely the funniest. Maybe I have an odd sense of humor, but I can fathom a fathom - and that seems super funny to me. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-units-of-measure/329226.md?page=4)