Buzz
When we compare things, the most effective approach is to assess their properties. Which one costs more? Which is taller? Which takes more time? From an early age, children instinctively ask these types of questions when presented with options. Today, the metric system is used by 95% of the world, though this wasn't always the case. In the past, a colorful array of units of measurement were in use. Many of them are widely known, but some are now considered outdated, foreign, or downright odd. Here are ten examples. Oh, and if you find this list interesting, you might also enjoy 10 Unique Scientific Scales.
10. Barleycorn
The barleycorn was a unit of length used in Anglo-Saxon times. Initially based on the size of an actual barleycorn, it became standardized to what is now 8.5mm. The imperial inch measurement originally came from the term 'ynch,' which was defined as being equivalent to three barleycorns. Interestingly, a quarter of a barleycorn is referred to as a poppyseed. The barleycorn continues to be used today as a reference for shoe sizes. For example, a size 8 is one barleycorn larger than a size 7. The maximum shoe size was originally set at 13, which was exactly 13 inches, with all other sizes determined by counting backwards in barleycorns from 13. By this system, a size 4 would be 9 barleycorns less than 13 inches, which equals 10 inches or 25cm. While shoe sizing can differ from country to country, the barleycorn is still used in the UK and the USA for shoe sizing.
9. Hands and Fingers
This was an English method of measurement based on the span of the hand and other hand-related units. A span was defined as the distance from the thumb to the tip of the little finger when the hand was fully extended, standardized at 23cm or 9 inches. A basic hand measurement was 10cm, or 4 inches. A palm was 7.5cm, or 3 inches, and a finger measured 2.2cm, or 7/8 of an inch. Interestingly, a nail was considered larger than a finger, measuring 5.7cm or 2 and 1/4 inches. A digit, slightly smaller than a finger, was 1.9cm, or 3/4 of an inch. An ell, on the other hand, was the distance from the fingertip of an outstretched hand to the opposite shoulder, measuring 114cm. These units have been recorded for over a thousand years.
8. Ploughing
English farmers once calculated the size of their land based on how much their animals could plough. Initially, an acre was defined as the area that an ox could plough in one day, approximately 4047 square meters. An oxgate referred to the amount of land an ox could plough in a year, equaling 15 acres. A virgate was the area that two oxen could plough in a year, 30 acres, while a carucate was the area that eight oxen could plough in a year, 120 acres. A furlong, which is a unit of distance, referred to the length of the furrow an ox could plough at one time. One furlong is just over 200 meters.
7. Alcohol
Alcoholic drinks had specific names for different volumes. In Northern England, a ‘pony’ was used to describe not only a small horse but also two mouthfuls of liquid, or 30mL. This term is still used today in reference to a small shot of spirits, although shot sizes can vary widely. Many of the old measurements were based on doubling the amounts of jackpots. A jackpot was 74mL. Two jackpots made a gill, two gills made a cup, two cups made a pint, two pints made a quart, two quarts made a pottle, two pottles made a gallon, two gallons made a peck, two pecks made a pail, two pails made a bushel, two bushels made a strike, two strikes made a coomb, two coombs made a cask, two casks made a barrel, and two barrels made a hogshead. Phew! The Hog’s Head Inn from Harry Potter is named after this alcohol volume, roughly 250L. Another more modern measurement for alcohol is the bottle, which refers to a standard bottle of champagne, or 750mL.
6. Death and Doom
In Europe, the ‘grave’ was a unit of mass that was briefly used before being renamed to the modern kilogram. The term ‘grave’ was derived from the word ‘gravity,’ a fitting origin for such a measurement. However, it was eventually replaced with ‘gramme,’ and later ‘kilogram,’ after the French Revolution. For measuring energy, the term ‘Hiroshima bomb’ is often used to describe large amounts of energy released by natural disasters, equivalent to 60000GJ (gigajoules). When measuring radioactivity, the ‘banana equivalent dose’ is used to compare the radiation emitted by common radioactive procedures, such as X-rays. One banana equivalent dose equals 78nSv. In comparison, 500000nSv is considered the minimum radiation dose for poisoning.
5. Time
Have you ever heard someone say they'll take ‘a jiffy’ or ‘a shake of a lamb’s tail’? Both of these are actual units of time. A jiffy equals 0.1 seconds, and a shake measures just 10 nanoseconds. These are useful for quick measurements in computing and nuclear engineering, respectively. A moment, however, is 90 seconds. In Medieval Europe, the Latin term ‘atomus’ was used to define a time span, which today is 160 milliseconds. Other time units include dog years, based on the myth that 7 dog years equals 1 human year. In reality, dogs do not experience time faster; they age differently depending on their breed. However, the popular myth persists, and a dog year is now commonly considered to be one seventh of a standard year, or 52 days.
4. Troy
In the ancient legend of Troy, a woman was so breathtakingly beautiful that powerful men fought fiercely over her, sparking a war that would go down in history. This woman, Helen of Troy, now has a unit of beauty named after her – the Helen. The story tells us that Helen was ‘the face that launched a thousand ships,’ meaning that 1 Helen represents this immense beauty. A face capable of launching just one ship would have a beauty rating of 1 milliHelen. On the flip side, a face that could sink a ship would have a beauty score of -1 milliHelen. The famed writer Isaac Asimov is believed to be the first to coin the term ‘Helen’ as a unit of measurement, and it has since appeared in many stories. The city of Troy itself stood strong for 10 years before being besieged, so 1 Troy can be considered a defense strong enough to hold out for that long. A defense lasting only 1 year would be equivalent to 0.1 Troys.
3. Animals
The mother cow index was a method used not too long ago in the farming regions of the USA to estimate how many pregnant cows a certain area of land could support. Even farmers who didn’t specialize in dairy could gauge the land’s fertility by using this index. Donkeypower, which is equivalent to horsepower, represents only 250W, a quarter of the strength of a horsepower. The term sheppey, coined by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd, defines the minimum distance at which sheep appear picturesque, estimated to be 1.4km. While kilograms measure mass in the metric system, pounds are used in the imperial system to measure weight force, which differs slightly: in zero gravity, an object has mass but no weight. A slug, an old imperial unit of mass, weighs just under 15kg. To measure and compare large masses, elephants are commonly used. The average adult male African bush elephant, the standard for such measurements, weighs about 5.4 tons, which is equivalent to 1 elephant. Dinosaurs and whales are frequently described in terms of elephants.
2. Human Endeavours
During World War II, a particularly unhelpful individual, Commander Pouter, became notorious for his disruptive actions, causing delays and complications for the Allies. As a result, the term ‘pouter’ was coined to measure a person’s obstructiveness. Commander Pouter himself was rated as 1 pouter, but it was soon realized that it was unrealistic to measure anyone’s disruptive potential as highly as his, so a micro pouter was created as a more practical unit for ordinary individuals. In modern times, NASA has a scale for space adaptation syndrome, commonly known as space-sickness. This is the difficult adjustment astronauts experience in abnormal gravity or pressure conditions. NASA uses the Garn scale, named after Jake Garn, who became extremely ill on an orbital flight, violently vomiting. 1 Garn refers to a person being as sick as Jake Garn was during that flight.
1. Technology
