It just doesn’t measure up 09.04.09
Measurements baffle me.
Don’t get me wrong, if I had to measure something, like
perhaps a space to put up a shelf or something, I think
I could do it. Well okay, I could do the measuring bit,
but probably not put up the shelf too well.
It’s not that I struggle with making a measurement, the
struggle usually comes more because of the way we tend
to use them around here.
For instance have you ever wondered how come people here
measure some distances, not by miles or even kilometres,
but by using time.
Think about it. How many times have you asked somebody
how far a place is away from another and they reply -
“umm about half an hour or so.”
It kind of reminds me of those old maths questions we
did when we are at National School. You know a train
leaves platform A at 11.30 travelling and 55 miles per
hour and another leaves platform B at 11.40 travelling
at 60 miles per hour. |
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There were a lot of trains
leaving in those days but I always that it was kinda
unfair that we had to do those questions in Donegal
because we didn’t have any trains.
Those questions were all about who was getting there
first which I guess could well be the reason we’ve been
all conditioned over the years to equate distance with
time.
Then again I suppose the car makers have done that for
us too when they put clocks in the car that tell us how
many miles - or should that be kilometres - an hour we
are travelling.
Even the authorities have started to get in on the act.
On a recent trip to Dublin I noticed signs on the
motorway that told me, not how many miles (or kilomatres)
I was from the airport, but things like ‘airport 20 mins,’
‘city centre 35 mins.’
It’s all pretty confusing really and it’s no wonder
units of measurement come up in pub quiz questions so
often.
And the time/distance thing isn’t the only one we seem
to have a bit of a mix-up with.
For instance these days we are all pretty obsessed with
the price of a litre of petrol or diesel but then we’ll
tell everyone how many miles we get (or don’t get) to
the gallon.
And we probably shouldn’t even be saying miles. After
all we’re all kilometres and metric these days.
Well at least some of us are. Last week for instance I
thought I was being funny when I accidentally broke a
ruler and wondered out loud to my daughters if I could
get a day off work for having a ‘broken foot.’
They stared blankly at me as if to say “what the hell
kind of nonsense are you talking about this time?”
So, painful and all as it was to have to explain my joke
I said, “you know, the ruler is twelve inches, and
that’s a foot.”
They still didn’t get it. “But, but a ruler is 30 cm,”
the girls said, and it was then I knew I was fighting a
losing battle.
So much for my feet and inches and stones and pounds and
miles and umm, half miles. Seems like perhaps some of
the next generation might actually have grasped the
whole metric thing.
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised really that people
will be confused or measurements will get crossed over
every now and then, especially when you think on how
many types there are. |
You know there are units of
length, units of area, units of volume, units of liquid
volume and units of mass and that’s just a few of the
common ones.
In fact to find out how many types there really are, I
resorted to the internet and did what any
self-respecting columnist would do in such a situation -
I asked the google.
Before I did so however I decided for fun to have a
guess at the answer myself.
And you know what, I was miles out. Umm. Or should that
be hundreds… |
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A DROP OF
PORTER is
the weekly
column of
Inishowen
Independent
editor,
Liam Porter. |
|
