Pluralization of both with the 's' is common. I suppose whether it's correct depends on whether there's any meaning for 'correct' beyond 'a lot of people do it that way'.
Screw that. It's 800 rods per "hail mary". Work it out from there. (ok, about 48 million, depending on your ox. But if you're measuring time in fortnights, you should probably be measuring distance in leagues. )
The American Heritage Dictionary 1992 shows it as fathoms. As with all things in the English language as with the measurement system, it is open for debate. :-)
"Thy" father, not "my" father.
Anyway, that's 11 feet -- full fathom five would be one fathom and five feet. The 1 would be full size, the 5 a superscript.
USGS (and previously USCGS) charts refer to the plural as fathoms, not fathom, e.g. "Soundings in fathoms and feet, depth contours in fathoms."
Cite?
Don't have a cite for fathom, it's just that I grew up actually using the term, (and selling clams by the peck and bushel, too) and none of them were ever pluralized. Now that I think about, I'd have to say that they were used more like adjectives than nouns. Like "dozen". You can have dozens of doghnuts, or you can have three dozen doghnuts.
I also multiplied by hours/day twice translating furlongs per fortnight... and got a result 24 time too big.
Who was it who said "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then give up, there's no sense in being a damn fool about it"?
You can also have three bushels of corn. Or three pecks of peas.
That happens, though I'd more likely slip a 60 or two in there. ;-)
If at first you don't succeed, get a bigger hammer.
American Heritage Dictionary:
fath·om (f²th".m) n., pl. fathom or fath·oms. Abbr. fath, fath., fm., fth.
Note: it allows both forms with or without the "s"
Yep. Driving measures for me work best in miles as it is more easily converted from miles to time. Thus if something is 350 miles away I can pretty well instantly know that driving time will be 6-7 hours. Used to be before interstates that one could take the distance, divide by 50 (mph) and come remarkablyi close to the driving time. For me it still works even on freeways as I don't push as hard as I used to. Never have found anything using km that works as neatly. Best I can do is a conversion back to miles and figure it that way although I rarely bother. I do an annual trip in Canada.
Harry K
Australia went cold turkey years ago. Worked like a charm. New generations never even heard of the old system.
U.S. made a timid attempt years ago to put BOTH on road signs, e.g. as a "transition. Of course people only looked at the familar system, so that went nowhere and was abandoned,
Antediluvian
Speed limits on highways in Canada are usually 100 kph*. If I have to drive 250 km, that takes 2.5 hours. If I need to go 75km, that will take three-quarters of an hour. Man, that metric stuff is tough.
*Some areas allow 110 kph.Mike
The trips I make are from Osooyoos to Kamloops up the Okanogan and the Coquihalla.
Speed limits are from 80 to 90 km on all 2 lane roads and 110 on the cog. Traffic with very few exceptions sticks very close to them. The annoying part is plugging along at 80 up the Okanogan behind someone moveing 75 and almost impossible to pass.
Harry K
Ooops. After thinking about that I don't recall any 90 on 2 lane. There are several stretches of 4-lane non-divided with 90. I haven't made the trip in a couple years now due to wife's medical but we are planning one this summer as soon as I get a passport in my hot little hand.
Harry K
According to Harry K :
At least in Ontario, 90km is very rare. 4xx series highways (4 or more lanes) are defined as "divided" and are 100. All undivided highways are 80. The only 90 I'm immediately aware of is the undivided portions of the TransCanada (highway 17 in Ontario).
Alberta, of course, is slightly different, and I suspect BC is too.
Passport? You still only need a birth certificate and government photo-id (eg: driver's license). If you're a US or Canadian citizen of course. And that's mainly to get back into the US.
??? Hwy 69 and a couple of others (6 south Hamilton? anyway, not too uncommon.) vary between 80 and 90 on different sections. I think it depends on who the locals voted for.
But even if you are at 90, it's still easy to figure out time - do the calcs as for 100 and add 10%.
BTW - it isn't divided that determines whether it's 100 or less - it's controlled access (though every controlled access hwy is divided). I think the determinant in deciding between 80 and 90 is the frequency of access - more farm roads = 80, fewer farm roads = 90.
Mike
England made the change and never looked back.
then why do english, irish, and canadian carpenters still use english tape measures?
I'm not disputing that "fathom" may be accepted as plural, or peck,=20 bushel... I'm disputing that it is somehow favored over the 's'=20 form or more accurately "whether it's correct depends on whether=20 there's any meaning for 'correct' beyond 'a lot of people do it=20 that way'".
--=20 Keith
With few exceptions (historical naming reasons, eg: the QEW), only
400-series highways are 100km/h, and 400-series is defined as "controlled access", "divided" (eg: very wide medians or concrete barriers), and likely 4 or more lanes. 90 is for important long-haul arteries out in the boonies with very little access. Parts of 17, 69, 11, much of 115 and a small bit of 6 south (I was on it last week), for example, qualify. Much of the DVP is 90km too (it'd normally qualify for 100km, but it is, I think, too congested/narrow/curvy for MTO's taste at 100km). [I suspect 115 will get upgraded to 100km once they finally finish all the upgrades. May or may not be renamed to 4xx.] 80 or 90 km highways with "too much" access are hideously dangerous. 11 and 115 were both deathtraps until they started putting in dividers, fences and "go the other way" bridges. 90 is sufficiently rare that it's a surprise to see it on a road you've not been on for a while. 6 south surprised me ;-)According to marson :
Because they're easier to read than chinese ones. ;-)
Many of our tape measures are both english and metric.
Somehow I think converting to metric wouldn't change anything. Its pretty hard to compete with other countries where people are paid $3/day.
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