Obscure units of measurement

[Arch]

A Routemaster Bus

When I was chairing an assessed seminar in my final degree year, I hit upon the idea of translating the weight of cargo that could be carried by various viking ships into the weight of double decker buses, because no one knows what a tonne looks or feels like, but everyone can imagine the weight of a bus. It's something a couple of members of staff still talk about today, 4 years on...

The largest ships BTW, could carry the equivalent weight of 11 buses. But they would have to be crushed down onto cubes, you couldn't park them on deck.

 

[marinyork]

Quite a few people here will have used Barns, I still maintain they are an obscure unit. It's like saying gluons are a daft name for something as elegent as vector fields.

Not heard of the puppy before lol.

 

[Fnaar]

It's like saying gluons are a daft name for something as elegent as vector fields.

Are they similar to strapons?

 

[Mac66]

Barns, as noted by marinyork. More on barns here.
...puppy, is derivable as the quantity of happiness which one 1 kilogram beagle puppy whose body temperature is 310 kelvins produces when held in skin contact for one second."

I thought puppies were something else

 

[RRCC]

I have 'friends' (ahem) who have been known, in the past, when they were younger and less mature, to measure beauty by number of pints of beer it'd take to fancy her. A "7-pinter" was to be avoided at all costs....

We used deg C or Kelvin, how warm it would have to be before we kicked tham out of bed. An extention of "I won't kick her out of bed on a cold night."

 

[User482]

And of course we also have units of measurement that should be obscure, but are common knowledge. Such as the Richter scale which was abandoned by seismologists decades ago in favour of the moment magnitude scale, which is much more accurate.

 

[User482]

We used deg C or Kelvin, how warm it would have to be before we kicked tham out of bed. An extention of "I won't kick her out of bed on a cold night."

You can also measure it by time: how late in the evening it would be before you'd get drunk/ desperate enough.

 

[another_dave_b]

nanoWales. 1 square mile = 124657.1927 nanoWales

 

[Zoiders]

You have got to hand it to the Russians

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

 

[Arch]

Of course, there's 'hands' for horses. A hand is 4". Anything full grown and less than 14 hands high at the shoulder, is a pony. More than 14 hands, is a horse. An animal of, say 15 and a half hands, would be 15x4" plus 2" (62 inches) and I think it would be written 14/2 or maybe even 14.2 - although in decimal terms, it's 14.5....

 

[byegad]

Engineering terms.
gnat's cock hair = less than a thousandth of an inch
midge's dick = about 2 thousands of an inch.

Both used by fitters and turners in the Cargo Fleet Iron and Steel works.

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weight measures

One bollock. JUST too heavy for a man to lift unassisted.

Two Bollocks. Way too heavy for one man to lift unassisted.

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Time.

Jiff. Flexible period of time. To those who wait; the time taken for the a
shop assistant to finish her conversation with her friend, answer a text message, polish her nails and sigh!
Half a Jiff. Time taken for me to say to said assistant 'Never mind I'll go next door and buy something I don't really want you idle cow!'

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Distance

'aboutamile'. Unit used by farmers to indicate a distance probably within a full day's ride, if only they'd pointed you in the right direction!

 

[byegad]

On reading the above I have realised that I am changing into Victor Meldrew............'I don't believe it!'

 

[mr_hippo]

Engineering terms.
gnat's cock hair = less than a thousandth of an inch
midge's dick = about 2 thousands of an inch.
Both used by fitters and turners in the Cargo Fleet Iron and Steel works.

Also you can use BL.C.H. and B.C.H. units

 

[Brains]

When I was chairing an assessed seminar in my final degree year, I hit upon the idea of translating the weight of cargo that could be carried by various viking ships into the weight of double decker buses, because no one knows what a tonne looks or feels like, but everyone can imagine the weight of a bus. It's something a couple of members of staff still talk about today, 4 years on...

The largest ships BTW, could carry the equivalent weight of 11 buses. But they would have to be crushed down onto cubes, you couldn't park them on deck.

... and I take it you used the TPCMI to calculate the the number of buses to equal the DWT with an allowance made for displacement weight and LDT ?

 

[Johnny Thin]

I got bought "The Weather Makers" by Tim Flannerhy, publ. 2004, which explains in minute scientific detail all the prognoses behind global warming and related concerns.

In it he talks about the effect on the Gulf Stream etc and refers to a UOM called "Sverdrups", defined thus:

...named after the Norwegian oceanographer Hans Ulrich Sverdrup. A Sverdrup is a very large flow of water - one million cubic metres per second ...

But my mind boggles when I try to imagine such things!