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Comment by EricBurnett | Hacker News Reader

Hmm, good for usage you say. Ok, let's stick to "standard" imperial units. How many feet in a yard? Yards in a mile? What the hell is a quart? And since base 12 is great, what is 12 feet called? 144 feet? A 12th of an inch?

Or, ounces: How many ounces in a gallon? A pound? And how many _kinds_ of ounces are there, anyways?

Fun fact: The term “ounce” is of Latin origin from the word “uncia” which means “a twelfth part.” http://www.differencebetween.net/science/mathematics-statist... So...what's an ounce a twelfth of?

Or, say, a pint. What's the definition of a pint?

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> So...what's an ounce a twelfth of?

It's a twelfth of a troy pound, or Roman libra (lb).

These two episodes from The History of English podcast trace these seemingly arbitrary units through history and give them some context. My favorite is the derivation of 5280 feet per mile. Also, that "mark twain" is a depth sounding of two fathoms.

http://historyofenglishpodcast.com/2018/07/26/episode-114-th... http://historyofenglishpodcast.com/2018/08/21/episode-115-th...

A pint is what British people drink in pubs while chastising the US for not adopting the metric system.

And then complain about gaining a stone?

568ml, as god intended. Not some 450ml abomination!

We don't really use pints for measuring anything else these days.

If only US pints were a 450ml abomination.

That's about 50ml more than I'm used to getting when I order a "pint".

You are benefitting from the true Imperial pint where there is 4546 mL per gallon.

And of course 4 quarts to the gallon and two pints to the quart.

Otherwise like in the US in what is commonly known as the English system there is only 3785 mL to the gallon.

The metric pint?

When they pour 500 mL into your 1 pint (473 mL) glass.

A yard is three feet, or about the length of a man's stride.

A quart is about the maximum amount of whiskey one can drink without dying.

A pint's a pound, the world around.

My favorite is the cord, which is 128 cubic feet, or more often a stack of firewood 4 feet tall by four feet wide by eight feet long.

A pint is a pound so long as you're in the US. Everywhere else, it's 20 fl.oz, while a pound is 16 oz.

The cord is also the size of the standard US pickup truck bed with the wood stacked up about cab height.

A yard is not just a measure of length, but of volume and in a manner, constitution if you will, as it is also 2 1/2 pints[1], good sir or ma'am. Oy!

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yard_of_ale

Between that and the GP, we could establish a conversion between yards and quarts.

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