When I were a lad it was called a "four be two". I don't know what builders say now that all measurements are metric.
In your country, perhaps. In most of the rest of the world the change happened long ago.
One of the first US industries to convert to metric was the liquor bottlers. 750 ml is 7 ml less than the common 'fifth'. It doesn't sound like much but ti's another bottle of booze for sale for every 107.
I'm probably just being cynical but the prime US motivator for anything is money. A few traffic signs close to the border have kilometers and miles but replacing every traffic sign in the country would be pricey with no upside.
Like the beverages some things quietly went metric. The building trades would mean every manufacturer would have to retool or stick with odd metric sizes. Again, costly with no obvious way to recover the cost.
A lot of folks hereabouts say something like "tuba four".
Around here, they're just studs.
"Heyyy!!"
AIUI, the "2x4" was the rough cut measurement. For a longtime, lumber wasn't supplied planed (or was priced extra for planed), but now rough cut is rare.
"2x4" will just be a label, and the finished size will be specified in mm. Sounds like that may have happened in Ozland already.
/dps
It took me a while to remember that this sort of thing is googlable. Here's one response to the question "What are the standard timber sizes for construction?"
By the way, I started my search with "timber supplies near me". Google responded with
Marshall's Timbers Lumber store Cardiff NSW
Broadmeadow Timber & Building Supplies Lumber store Broadmeadow NSW
and so on.
"Lumber store"? Who says "lumber store" outside America? But apparently Google has helpfully translated it into American for me.
When I click on the link for Marshall's Timbers, I get
Marshall's Timbers Cardiff NSW Did you mean: Marshalls Timbers Cardiff NSW
Apparently Google considers it implausible that a business name could contain an apostrophe.
Apostrophes in business names should be illegal :) I just finished a utility to vet GIS data submitted by sites that flags data like 'Marshall's Timbers' They have a tendency to cause havoc with database manipulations. Something like
string stmnt = "select location from business where business_name = 'Marshall's Timbers'"
is going to fail. You need to escape the '. Usually '' works.
The American term that I know is "lumber yard".
The noun "lumber" simply does not exist in AusE. (We do recognise the word, but never use it.) We call it "timber".
We do have a verb "lumber".
In the US, the word "timber" is usually used to mean uncut wood. If I chop down a tree, I now have timber. If I saw that timber into planks, I have lumber.
Some online dictionaries agree with that, but others seem to say that it's lumber after you cut down the tree, but before you cut it into planks.
Yeah, OK, but an American who is looking for a place to buy a 2 x 4 looks for a "lumber yard", and considers that 2 x 4 a piece of lumber. Actually, though, "lumber yards" are fast disappearing and have been replaced by stores like Home Depot and Lowe's that sell lumber as well as a full range of tools and DIY products.
Den 26.03.2023 kl. 05.41 skrev Peter Moylan:
Monty Python can't be completely unknown in Australia.
You don't need to know what a lumberjack is to appreciate the song. As it happens, though, I do know what he is. He's a timber cutter or tree feller.
Cue a picture of two men reading the job ads in an Irish employment office. One of them says,
"That's a real pity, Mick. It says here that they want tree fellers, and there's only two of us."
I was trying to remember the term I was used to, but I couldn't. That was it!
I've never heard "lumber store."
Not me. I never have timber or lumber that way.
That's because I never chop down trees or cut logs into planks.
In my youth, I probably chopped down a small tree or two, but I never cut one into planks.
I also never stir my coffee with my thumb..
Yes.
Out of curiosity, I just went to Amazon.com to see if they also sold lumber. They do.
Speaking of lumberjacks and songs, I'm curious as to whether you understood my reference to stirring coffee with my thumb.
I sure did.
Lyrics:
One of my favourite folk songs.
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