September 2022

[Little Jack Horner]

I don’t know how most British people pronounce [the theory] (a.k.a. diphtheria) or ophthalmology. I do know that my voice recognition software does not recognise [different area] (a.k.a. diphtheria) but it is quite happy if I pronounce “diptheria” which it then proceeds to spell correctly. Strange world — or something.

[Verbivore]

I think that in the (deep) past we’ve touched upon informal measurement units such as five Sydney Harbours, three football fields, four Titanics … .

Here be lists of measures – some real, others fictional or humorous.

Hiroshima as a unit of measure

List of unusual units of measurement

List of humorous units of measurement

FFF system

[Little Jack Horner]

Thank you, Vv, for those interesting articles. My favourite humorous measurement has always been the Helen to which my father introduced me many years ago. I was glad to see it included in the list.

But I found the other measurements to be a somewhat mixed bag. There are obviously very many measurements of a specialised kind, many of them are outmoded or are very particular in their application. But some are measurements in daily use, certainly in the United Kingdom. I was puzzled to see fortnight mentioned but not week. And I can’t believe that a light-nanosecond was ever intended to be taken seriously whereas the height of a horse in hands certainly is.

“Length” in terms of horse racing is not standardised nor is a canvas in rowing. On the other hand, in maritime usage, a fathom, a nautical mile and a cables length are all perfectly standardised but were not mentioned in the articles. A cricket pitch is still 22 yards or, as originally, a chain (a Gunter’s chain) and ten chains make a furlong, in every day use in horse racing. Robin Hood’s arrows were always a clothyard long. When I was at school, we still had to learn about the length of a rod, pole, or perch (seven feet if memory serves). And we mustn’t forget things like pennyweight, ounces (both troy and avoirdupois), gallons (US and imperial), bushels, handbreadths, troy grains, carats and lots of other things. Noah’s Ark was measured in cubits and spans. In terms of coinage, we had groats, florins, crowns, nobles, marks, sovereigns and guineas. Wine is measured in bottles and magnums and Jeroboams and Nebuchadnezzar’s and probably other things as well. Beer can be drunk by the pint or the gill (but whether a gill is half a pint or quarter of a pint depends where you live).

Ships are measured in Thames tons, gross tons, tons deadweight and tons displacement. Elsewhere we have long tons, short tons and metric tonnes. Long tons (or possibly short tons) are made up of ounces and pounds and stones and quarters and hundredweights.

I could probably go on (the insulation properties of duvets, sleeping bags and jackets are measured in TOGs) but I expect readers are getting a little bit bored right now. And I am going to bed.

[Verbivore]

Some interesting measures there, LJH. Thanks.

Going back to pre-SI days in AU, when one's weight was measured in stones: an anecdote.

I was 15 years old and had rapidly lost about 14 lbs in weight. I went to the doctor and announced that I'd lost a stone.

Doctor's reply: "Which one – left or right?"

[Verbivore]

Whether one is in favour of or opposed to DST, there's the term itself to debate.

Is it 'daylight saving time' or 'daylight savings time'?

The correct terminology is "daylight saving time".

Roly Sussex, emeritus professor of applied language studies at the University of Queensland, explains why.

The trick is to think about the way we refer to the collection of money in our piggy banks as "savings".

"Saving is a process … the result of my activity in saving is savings," Professor Sussex said.

Winding back the clocks is the process of saving, whereas the extended sunlight at the end of the day is the "savings" in this equation.

However, if you're among the group of people who say "daylight savings" instead of "daylight saving", then you're not alone.

A quick look at Google Trends shows the plural is more popular among Australians searching for the term. Check out the graph of searches throughout the past year:



The blue line represents Google searches for "daylight savings" while the red represents "daylight saving". (Google Trends)
    [Click on graphic to enlarge it.]

In case you were wondering, those spikes came around the first Sundays of April and October. 

A breakdown of that data into states and territories shows that, across the board, "savings" is the more popular search term. 

We asked Professor Sussex if it's OK to say "daylight savings" in casual settings. 

"You hear it so much that I don’t think I’d do more than twitch," he said. 

And he pointed out that, sometimes, putting an 'S' at the end of the word 'saving' is correct. He gave the following example:

"Daylight saving is a viable commercial strategy.

"Daylight savings are welcomed by lots of people except in Queensland."

[Dave Miller]

Is it just an example of how US English sometimes pluralises what British English leaves as singular?

I know there are more examples than I can think of right now, but “ways” is one: He did it, anyways. There’s still a ways to go.

“Savings” comes in again: I made quite a savings on that.

[Verbivore]

Poor phrasing leads to abortions at Los Angeles Airport? Strange world.

Madolline Gourley says she was asked whether she’d had an abortion while detained at Los Angeles airport in June.