My smartassery on another thread led me to this Wikipedia page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement
I like this one:
Helen of Troy (from the Iliad) is widely known as "the face that launched a thousand ships". Thus, 1 millihelen is the amount of beauty needed to launch a single ship. Other derived units such as the negative helen (the power to beach ships) have also been described.
I hate that this made me laugh out loud. Oh well, haters gonna hate.
From old surveyor tales:
"There are also "measurements" that were used a long time ago to describe the distance of a property line or to gauge the distance of something. There was one deed that called for the "distance of 2 smokes". After doing some research, a "smoke" is the distance it would take a man on horseback to roll and smoke one cigarette with the horse walking at a leisurely pace."
DDSM:beer:
And the favorite DBH. Distance By Hollering. Stand on one hill with an observer on another. Wave hands and holler at the same time. Get the length of time from one hill to the other and divide by 1125 (average speed of sound in feet per second). Voila.
Andy
When I was in college I read a legal description that had a distance of "3 hatchet throws". I thought that was pretty good.
I had "in a westerly direction as far as a strong man can shoot a bow" once, but I fear not identifying the type of bow makes it a poor unit.
Well known Beerleg contributor volunteers as the Kansas Cow-libration baseline.
A common aussie measure is a X beer drive.
In The Sandpit, post: 359800, member: 99 wrote: A common aussie measure is a X beer drive.
The one I like is the distance of one cigarette on a slow walking mule.
JBStahl, post: 359857, member: 427 wrote: Smoots!!!
I'm personally fond of the bridge that has the increments permanently marked on the concrete sidewalk. That's class!
