Post by Stormrider on Jan 24, 2009 18:11:53 GMT -6
From: Lord_Algamesh (Original Message) Sent: 11/30/2002 9:14 PM
This doesn't particularly apply to any specific weekly assignment but we do come across the term - "ell". The context in which it is spoken is as follows:
Sam paid it out slowly, measuring it with his arms: "Five, ten, twenty, thirty ells, more or less," he said.
Apparently the "Ell" is a length of measurement. Let's take a look at some of the other types of measurements we encounter:
Fortnight
Fathom
League
Gross
I'm sure there are probably more that I have either come across and looked over or that still lie in ambush for us. Would anyone like to educate us all on these obscure or antiquated measurements? It would be nice to get them down definitively here.
(Also ... what the heck is a "spate"? I know it's not a measurement but it's sitting pretty close to "Ell" and we might as well define that while we're at it !)
* * *
From: Selmo Sent: 12/3/2002 6:00 AM
An Ell is an Old English unit used measure rope or cloth, originally the distance between the nose and the finger-tip of an outstretched arm, roughly one yard.
Spate = flood. A flooding river is said to be "in spate."
Selmo.
* * *
From: Selmo Sent: 12/3/2002 9:51 AM
Fortnight isn't obscure or antiquated where I come from; it's in common use.
Fortnight is from the Old English for fourteen nights. Two weeks.
Selmo
* * *
From: jerseyshore Sent: 12/4/2002 7:24 PM
A gross is 12 dozen.
* * *
From: Lord_Algamesh Sent: 12/4/2002 10:11 PM
Allow me to add another measurement to the list :
The "furlong"
Thanks Selmo and jerseyshore for defining a few thus far! I'm sure that there are those of us who normally read over some of these measurements, having intentions to investigate the dimensions but never seeming to find the time ... hehehe.
* * *
From: Selmo Sent: 12/5/2002 3:45 AM
A furlong is 1/8th of a mile, now only used to measure horese-race distances.
A fathom used to be the width of outstretched arms, later standardised as 6 feet. Still used by traditionally-minded sailors to measure depth of water.
A league can be any distance between two & a half to four & a half miles, usually taken to be about three miles Originly the distance a Roman Legion would cover in an hour.
Selmo.
This doesn't particularly apply to any specific weekly assignment but we do come across the term - "ell". The context in which it is spoken is as follows:
Sam paid it out slowly, measuring it with his arms: "Five, ten, twenty, thirty ells, more or less," he said.
Apparently the "Ell" is a length of measurement. Let's take a look at some of the other types of measurements we encounter:
Fortnight
Fathom
League
Gross
I'm sure there are probably more that I have either come across and looked over or that still lie in ambush for us. Would anyone like to educate us all on these obscure or antiquated measurements? It would be nice to get them down definitively here.
(Also ... what the heck is a "spate"? I know it's not a measurement but it's sitting pretty close to "Ell" and we might as well define that while we're at it !)
* * *
From: Selmo Sent: 12/3/2002 6:00 AM
An Ell is an Old English unit used measure rope or cloth, originally the distance between the nose and the finger-tip of an outstretched arm, roughly one yard.
Spate = flood. A flooding river is said to be "in spate."
Selmo.
* * *
From: Selmo Sent: 12/3/2002 9:51 AM
Fortnight isn't obscure or antiquated where I come from; it's in common use.
Fortnight is from the Old English for fourteen nights. Two weeks.
Selmo
* * *
From: jerseyshore Sent: 12/4/2002 7:24 PM
A gross is 12 dozen.
* * *
From: Lord_Algamesh Sent: 12/4/2002 10:11 PM
Allow me to add another measurement to the list :
The "furlong"
Thanks Selmo and jerseyshore for defining a few thus far! I'm sure that there are those of us who normally read over some of these measurements, having intentions to investigate the dimensions but never seeming to find the time ... hehehe.
* * *
From: Selmo Sent: 12/5/2002 3:45 AM
A furlong is 1/8th of a mile, now only used to measure horese-race distances.
A fathom used to be the width of outstretched arms, later standardised as 6 feet. Still used by traditionally-minded sailors to measure depth of water.
A league can be any distance between two & a half to four & a half miles, usually taken to be about three miles Originly the distance a Roman Legion would cover in an hour.
Selmo.