Stones?

[viscousmemories]

People make fun of us Americans for using an antiquated system of measurements, but at least we don't weigh things in stones! What else do those Brits do, measure height in 'clubs' and volume in 'mountain holes'?

[curses]

:notes:And now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall:songhead:

[LadyShea]

What's a stone, 'bout 14 lbs? That's too hard to convert into something meaningful to me LOL

Do they use the metric system formally for weight, and "stone" more casually?

[slimshady2357]

I know!

And what a pain-in-the-ass amount to use as well, 14 pounds!

So when someone says "I weigh 13 stone" you have that tough mental math to do, why can't it be 10 pounds? And what about fractions, 14 is a pain there too. If you weigh 13 stone 9 pounds you can't say anything easy like '13 and 3/4 stone' since any 1/4's, 1/8's ect.. of 14 aren't whole numbers.

It's :kookoo: I tells ya.

[viscousmemories]

I dunno, Shea. I was looking at one of those "how overweight are you?" graphs and it had meters and feet along two sides, with kilos and stones on the other two. What about those of us who don't speak kilo or stone?!

[Uthgar the Brazen]

2285.7142857 stone, and what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt...

[Watser?]

C'est fou!

I guess that's the disadvantage of not having been under Napoleon's rule :nap:

[Leesifer]

MOMO FUCK YOU!11!!!!!!1!!!!!1

:iloveuk:

[ChuckF]

My weight is seventeen stone...the circumference around my neck is eighteen inches...the span across my hand is...
:giant:

[JoeP]

If you're going to baulk at a simple measure like stones, be glad that real measures have largely fallen by the wayside: furlongs, rods, poles and perches, leagues, cubits, hundredweight (cwt.), ...

[Watser?]

They haven't fallen by the wayside :nope:, we kicked 'em to the curb :yup:

[Leesifer]

We who?

You know nothing of the secret weights and measures society! :narrow:

[Watser?]

:ffstare:

[Kyuss Apollo]

Yeah, well, I can do the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs.

[viscousmemories]

cubits
"Riiiiiiiight. What's a cubit?" -- Bill Cosby

[Legs]

I was thinking the same thing about horsepower the other day... comparing engine power to that of a horse or horses. That term hasn't changed over the decades, but I like it just fine.

As for stones, it sounds better to weigh just 10 stone than 140lbs. IMO

[Uthgar the Brazen]

Yeah, well, I can do the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs.

Junior high science totally ruined Star Wars for me. :cryhome:

[Ymir's blood]

cubits
"Riiiiiiiight. What's a cubit?" -- Bill CosbyTraditionally the length of the forearm and hand.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Vitruvian_Man_Measurements.png

[godfry n. glad]

Yeah, well, I can do the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs.

Can you please translate that into furlongs per fortnight?

[godfry n. glad]

I know!

And what a pain-in-the-ass amount to use as well, 14 pounds!

So when someone says "I weigh 13 stone" you have that tough mental math to do, why can't it be 10 pounds? And what about fractions, 14 is a pain there too. If you weigh 13 stone 9 pounds you can't say anything easy like '13 and 3/4 stone' since any 1/4's, 1/8's ect.. of 14 aren't whole numbers.

It's :kookoo: I tells ya.

Uh...13 stone and a wyman? Or, 13 stone, a jagger, a watts and a richards?

Sorry, I don't know how they use the subunits.

[Shelli]

Every time I see this thread title, at first I wonder why it's not in the sexuality section. :giggle:

So juvenile, yeah, I know. :shrug:

[Dingfod]

Yeah, well, I can do the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs.

Junior high science totally ruined Star Wars for me. :cryhome:It totally makes sense if there's a black hole on the Kessel Run and one normally would have to go way more than 12 parsecs to avoid being sucked into its gravitational pull. Doing the run in less than what is considered a safe distance would give one bragging rights, I would think.

[JoeP]

of course you can only use these (length) measures in the right context. Fathom is a vertical measure of water. Furlongs, rods and chains are used of horizontal lengths of ground (mostly fields). (1 furlong x 1 chain = 1 acre.)

Cubits were certainly used in building measures; rarely in land measures. I have a feeling that ells were used in measures of produce (e.g. fabric), less so of fixed things.

Of course the best units are drams, pints, hogsheads and firkins.

[Uthgar the Brazen]

Yeah, well, I can do the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs.

Junior high science totally ruined Star Wars for me. :cryhome:It totally makes sense if there's a black hole on the Kessel Run and one normally would have to go way more than 12 parsecs to avoid being sucked into its gravitational pull. Doing the run in less than what is considered a safe distance would give one bragging rights, I would think.

And the odds that the young, starry-eyed Bearded One considered this while writing the script are...? ;)

[Ymir's blood]

of course you can only use these (length) measures in the right context. Fathom is a vertical measure of water. Furlongs, rods and chains are used of horizontal lengths of ground (mostly fields). (1 furlong x 1 chain = 1 acre.)

Cubits were certainly used in building measures; rarely in land measures. I have a feeling that ells were used in measures of produce (e.g. fabric), less so of fixed things.

Of course the best units are drams, pints, hogsheads and firkins.
It's hard to imagine building something without a standardized unit of measurement. It's hard enough trying to keep everything right using feet or meters from a tape! I suppose it would be workable if the same person's forearm length was used each time but still, what if they died? A workable solution would be to create a 'cubit stick', perhaps.

[JoeP]

A cubit stick is one approach. Other cultures defined a standardised cubit and only employed architects and foremen whose arms matched up. The remainder were put to death.

Of course, the undeniable fact remains that the vast majority of pre-metric buildings ever built have, in fact, fallen down. You may draw my own conclusion.

[Dingfod]

It totally makes sense if there's a black hole on the Kessel Run and one normally would have to go way more than 12 parsecs to avoid being sucked into its gravitational pull. Doing the run in less than what is considered a safe distance would give one bragging rights, I would think.

And the odds that the young, starry-eyed Bearded One considered this while writing the script are...? ;)Approximately one in a brazillion?

[Ymir's blood]

A cubit stick is one approach. Other cultures defined a standardised cubit and only employed architects and foremen whose arms matched up. The remainder were put to death.Who would have thought of Procrustes as a progressive reformer?


Of course, the undeniable fact remains that the vast majority of pre-metric buildings ever built have, in fact, fallen down. You may draw my own conclusion.err... every thread eventually turns to food?

[Kyuss Apollo]

Parachute Woman!

[Ari]

if the same person's forearm length was used each time but still, what if they died?

I keep imagining the building inspector walking around with the severed arm of the "official" cubit person.

[fragment]

Mummification technology would have helped with that. Notice that the pyramids are still standing.

[Dingfod]

And now we're back to stones.