1956
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Just read this in a 1956 "handy Hints" publication:
"Measure the span of your hand - then you will always have an accurate measuring rule with you."
Wow - that is so simple - mine is 200mm so thats very tidy!
I suppose I should measure my stride (which I often use as a rough meter) and also my foot!
cheers
rabbit -
I just used that again today. Also reach as high as you can. Of course you may get shorter, less nimble and more forgetful over time.
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Well, I regularly use my hand for measuring. This is roughly what it is like for me (and when I press my thumb closer to my palm, I also get a 10 cm measurement)
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Someone has to say it!
I've got 12 inches but I don't use it as a rule.
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@box said:
Someone has to say it!
I've got 12 inches but I don't use it as a rule.
How do I get the coffee out of my keyboard?There are quite a few possible measurements you can get with just your outspread hand.
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The distance between you finger tips when both arms are outstretched level is your height so if you are 6'/1.8m that's that.
From your nose to one outstretched arm is 3'/900mm, market cloth sellers used to measure off lengths from a roll like that, until the EU got uppity, metres replaced yards etc.
Your 'hand' is 4"/100mm wide - in fact 'hands' are still used to measure the height of horses to their shoulder.
Your thumb's knuckle is 1"/25mm wide across and it also measures when held square from knuckle to tip at 1½"/38mm.
Your elbow to outstretched finger-tips is 20"/500mm [a 'cubit']...Off on a tangent
@unknownuser said:A guy walks into a bar and notices a tiny man, just 12 inches tall who's playing the piano. He asks the barman what it's about, the barman says, 'Before you get your first drink you can rub this magic beer beer-bottle and make a wish.'
So he rubs the beer-bottle and boom!, out comes a genie, who says, 'You can have one wish.'
The man thinks about it and then wishes for a million bucks.
A cloud of smoke fills the room and when it clears there are a million ducks crowding around the bar.
He shouts, 'Hey, I didn't want a million ducks.'The barman shouts back, 'You think that I wanted a 12-inch pianist? That genie is as deaf as a post!'
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Wasn't the old biblical "cubit" the measurement of the forearm ?
Looking it up
Wikipedia)
The cubit is an ancient but obsolete non-SI unit of length. It was originally based on the length of the forearm.
PS Tig I love that joke and use it all the time. -
@box said:
Someone has to say it!
I've got 12 inches but I don't use it as a rule.
Yet to hear someone brag about their 0.304m member. Always facinates me when the imperial system is used by a metric world.
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Some of us are equally fluent in both.
I was still at school when Australia converted to metric, so I actually think in both.
Mind you I do that with a few different languages as well. -
Tattoo maybe
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