OT: Where did our language go?

I think it originated as one days ploughing with the equipment of the day.

This skoolboy, who is now 61, didn't know the exact definition. Interesting that it is defined in terms of a rectangle rather than a square: 22*220 is not a perfect square but is roughly 69.6 yards x 69.6 yards (though 70x70 is a good approximation!)

As defined in terms of a British Standard ploughing team in British Standard soil - in other words, the amount that different teams in different consistency/dampness of soil can plough, using different numbers of ploughshares, will vary enormously. I imagine that a few shares with one horse/ox is very different from a large number of shares pulled by many horses/oxen.

There are 640 acres in a square mile, again as ennee skoolboy kno.

Based, IOW, on a *human* measurement, just like the foot, the yard, and the inch. Unlike the metric stuff whereby the km is 1/10,000 of the average distance from the equator to a pole (on the Earth but not on any other celestial body).

Bit before my time:-)

Furrow width varies on modern machines but I doubt a horse/bullock pair would pull more than one 12" share. Don't forget the ploughman has to steer the plough as well.

I used a 95bhp tractor to pull a 4x14" reversible plough when I was a proper farmer:-)

Sadly I am no longer a skool buoy..

So 10 sqaure chains?

Yes dear, but we have tape measures and rulers these days, and digital calipers

Unlike the metric stuff whereby the km is 1/10,000 of the average

It so happens that a meter is very close to a yard.

Sadly rods, furlongs and chains mean bugger-all to anyone of my age (60-odd) and younger. If those units are expressed in yards at least we have a fighting chance. I've heard of rods, furlongs (*) and chains, but I haven't got a clue how many yards each is.

When I was at school, starting in the mid sixties, our "sums" books of arithmetic calculations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) were mainly "simple" numbers, but they did include mixed-base numbers such as currency in £sd, weights in tons, cwt, stones, pounds and ounces, volumes in gallons, pints and fl oz. We were told to ignore all of those because they were archaic units (the teacher probably said "old fashioned") which would very soon be going out of use, to be replaced by metric equivalents. It's interesting how long imperial units have survived after the school pronounced the death sentence on them in terms of learning how to calculate in them. I imagine that my generation may be the last that has grown up with them as "folk units" if not as "serious" scientific/engineering units, learned from our parents. I wonder if my nephews know much about them?

It will be a sad day. The imperial system is barking mad, the product of centuries of smoking something weird, when human-sized units are regarded as more important than ease of calculation, which is arse-about-face with the priorities I would want, but they have served Britain well and I would be sorry to see them consigned to historical curiosities. As long as I never have to use them!

(*) As in the mythical but alliterative "furlongs-per-fortnight" unit of speed ;-)

I've heard of rods, furlongs (*) and chains

I'm 60 and every exercise book I had at primary school had tables of inches, feet, yards, rods/poles/perches, chains, furlongs, miles the headmaster liked to test us on them.

A surveyors chain is 22 yards same as a cricket pitch

A rod, pole or perch was 5 1/2 yards or 16 1/2 feet

So 4 perches is a chain.

A fathom is 6 feet. I think from two hands stretched wide.

Whereas a (cloth) yard is one hand stretched wide to the other not stretched wide A hand is 4".

It's very funny listening to old engine builders who talk about 'four and 17/32 and three thousands of an inch."

So did mine. And I learnt em. Its amazing what you can memorise.

Whereas a hectare is about a football pitch with a bit of grass round the edges. Something very hard to imagine!

nib

Resulting in that beautiful calculation that a perch (area = a square rod, used (still?) for allotments) is thirty-and-a-quarter square yards (or 160 to the acre). Barmy!

It just makes any calculation hard work, and hinders the sort of understanding that relates one field of study or engineering to another.

nib

That your electric meter? A metre is 39.37 inches.

Not a racing man, then.

-- "Once you adopt the unix paradigm, the variants cease to be a problem - you bitch, of course, but that's because bitching is fun, unlike M$ OS's, where bitching is required to keep your head from exploding." - S Stremler in afc

Not really. As I said,. its 100m sq.

A Rugby pitch is up to 144m x 72 playable including the dead ball zone, , so with its grassy edges its about a hectare, too.

I find that pretty easy to imagine. Easier than an olympic sized swimming pool, anyway

I'm confused. 1 chain x 1 furlong is nowhere near square?