Do you guys have ‘local words’ for measurement?

17 comments

1. I didn’t know/don’t think any of those except for football fields had a precise and constant measurement

2. “Metric fuck-ton” is occasionally poplar for large quantities.

3. [removed]

4. Hammock of cake is pretty big in Rhodesia Island.

5. Most sound like idioms , you hear them a lot in the south. Not just for measuring. Other than a football field I don’t believe any of the others have an actual measurement. A couple of blocks to me would just mean a few streets away. While in NYC I believe a city block has an actual measurement.

   I’ve heard other random measurements by newscasters, which always seem really strange. Something like 20 washing machines or 30 barstools

6. “Make sure you turn right once you see the second dunks. Not the first one.”

7. Shift that over just a cunt hair.

8. Hop-skip-and-a-jump is an expression and does not represent any specific measurement. If something is a Hop-skip-and-a-jump away then it is fairly close by and can be reached without much difficulty.

   A block and a football field are the only things you listed that are actual measurements and not just expressions.

9. A Butt Load is generally known as a lot of something. We also measure distance in time, 3 hours away, etc…

   Edit: Shit Load or Fuck Ton are also acceptable.

10. I’m familiar with all those words, but except for blocks and football fields, the rest don’t really have any definite term of measurement.

    I’m sure I’ve said “go that-a-way on this road until you get to feed corn sign, then turn right,”or

    “Hey, it’s just a hop, skip, and a jump to the Dairy Inn so we can get some ice cream,”

    or

    “the end of the trial is just over yonder, and then we can stop and rest.”

    But it’s not like it’s a measure of distance. It’s either words of encouragement (it’s not as far as we think) or just a general direction guidance. I would never say “go two that-a-ways, then turn right, and go six hops-skips,-and-jumps, and you’d be there.”

    But yeah, I do describe things as being the size of a football field. (I generally think of a football field as about an acre, even though it’s slightly more.)

    And certainly, you give directions on blocks, particularly when you’re in any populated area. “We’re on Seventh Street now. You go three blocks that way until you get to Fourth Street, then turn right, then go five blocks down until you get to Franklin Avenue.” “Blocks” isn’t a fixed distance of measurement either, because each city can have different sized blocks, but they are specifically meant to talk about the blocks of that particular city (most city blocks in the U.S. have “short” distances where there are about 16 blocks to a mile, and “long” distances where there are about 8 blocks to a mile. Where I live, the downtown blocks are about 6 to a mile)

11. Blocks and football fields are used. Are ‘blocks’ really not used outside of America? People don’t say ‘in 2 blocks take a left, then in 3 more blocks it’s on your right’? You would take a guess at the number of meters?

12. Bum Fucked Eygpt. A location in the middle of nowhere, can be said as B.F.E. “I took a wrong turn and ended up in B.F.E.”

13. The joke is Americans will often use something to compare the size to rather than say how big somethibg is

    For example, instead of saying something is 720ft long, people might say “the size of two football fields!”

    Idk why, maybe because most people are able to imagine a football field better than a number?

14. Those aren’t actual measurements. They’re phrases there Chap.

15. Knee high, in particular in reference to the height of corn on Independence Day.

16. I mean sometimes I measure time in a coon’s age. People seem to think raccoons live for a really long time, so if I ain’t seen you in a while I might call it a coon’s age since I seen ya

17. Volume: Dollop, Smidgin. Mass: Fuck ton, Butt load. Distance: A bit, Country mile. Time: New York Minute.