Thick as two short planks: Why?

What’s wrong with one plank of an appropriate thickness, whether it be short or long? Why “as thick as two short planks”? Cheers!

Where have youy been all this time ?

Good to see you back!

“As thick as n (for n > 0) plank(s) of unspecified dimension” just doesn’t sound right.

casdave, took a SD sabbatical, got a bit fed up trawling through reams of back-slapping (and stabbing) shite looking for something interesting to read, y’know?

I believe the answer you are seeking is:

“Because it is.”

Glad to be of service, please pay the doorman as you leave, have a nice day.

Nice to see you again, MadHun.

My WAG is that a short plank appears thicker than a long plank of equivalent thickness and two short planks are thicker than one, but to be honest I haven’t a clue. And it has better resonance that “as thick as a very thick plank”, which sounds a bit Blackadderish.

How about if you were cutting wood to length.

You measure it, cut it and its too short - doh!

So you cut another plank - too short doh!

Make the mistake once is pretty thick but twice ?

Perhaps the cutter then tries to join the two planks, one on top of the other, to make a long enough one thus advertising to all ‘thickness’

MadhunSome UK Dopers are getting together at the end of the month, inevitably in London - be nice to see you there, look here -

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=4&daysprune=1&pagenumber=3