Units of Measurement

[Dave]

I think you are missing a word there. As in 'not an obtainable velocity for a mass to achieve'

yes, I missed an important word.

Are those real examples? They are terrible!

examples from online dictionaries

 

[Swank]

And another thing... the use of "at the speed of light" to mean something fantastically quick...

The no politics rule is in play, but a politician just used it today. Now I expect that for a certain generation, breaking the "sound barrier," and aircraft travelling faster than the speed of sound, still has an echo of cutting edge engineering, and that by association, "the speed of light" might appear to be another step beyond that. However, not only is it an obtainable velocity for a mass to achieve, but even for electromagnetic radiation, it is not instantaneous, and as already noted, it is really rather slow:


So, given that, why is the "speed of light" bandied about so much as an expression of something incredibly fast?



In these examples, it is trite and quite meaningless, and just as much of a cliché as "at the end of the day" or "to make a long story short".

Maybe I should blame Freddie Mercury? i.e. Don't Stop Me Now

Please stop using it! Use something original and imaginative instead.

Light is literally the fastest thing in the universe. What expression denotes a higher velocity?

 

[Dave]

You miss my point. It's unachievable but it's also too much of a cliché. It's meaningless when used as it is about a car, a speech, learning something, eating appetisers, or any of the other ways it is used.

Stop being lazy and use an expression that better fits whatever quick thing/process you are trying to describe.

 

[Swank]

You miss my point. It's unachievable but it's also too much of a cliché. It's meaningless when used as it is about a car, a speech, learning something, eating appetisers, or any of the other ways it is used.

Stop being lazy and use an expression that better fits whatever quick thing/process you are trying to describe.

Of all the poor expressions used in daily speech, this is the one that offends you?

 

[Ursa major]

Suze picked up the German language as fast as an entangled particle pair being measured and decohering.

Couldn't that be shortened by (mistakenly) rewriting it as:

Suze's German is, while measured, incoherent.

 

[Dave]

Of all the poor expressions used in daily speech, this is the one that offends you?

No, but this is a thread about units of measurements, not a thread about all the poor expressions used in daily speech.

 

[Pyan]

The Emperor Cæsar Augustus, (27 BC - 14 CE), wanted things to be done velocius quam asparagi coquantur - as fast as boiled asparagus.

Just sayin'...

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[Swank]

No, but this is a thread about units of measurements, not a thread about all the poor expressions used in daily speech.

I was just trying to walk a mile in your boots, and inch-by-inch try to understand.

 

[psikeyhackr]

And another thing - the number of sand grains on all the beaches in the world.

Tide in or tide out?

If the tide is in one place isn't it out someplace else?

 

[Danny McG]

At least all double deckers are the same height.

I wouldn't think so, Tiger looks much shorter than Doughnut

 

[Dave]

That gives a totally different spin on the number of double deckers required to fill the Albert Hall, or the number of double deckers required to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool!

 

[Danny McG]

Actual use of Americans as a unit of measurement

 

[Provincial]

Actual use of Americans as a unit of measurement

I laughed, but now I’m feeling embarrassed too. This is (probably) fat-shaming - but on the other hand, it’s probably a wise precaution, given that they’re supposed to be the most litigious nation in the world…

 

[Pyan]

Then there's the PSC for volume...

 

[Dave]

What variety of Potato cultivar is that?

 

[Pyan]

What variety of Potato cultivar is that?

German Butterball?

 

[Danny McG]

I've seen giraffe's heights being used before for comparison purposes, but this is my first time seeing their widths get used:-

 

[Ursa major]

I've seen giraffe's heights being used before for comparison purposes, but this is my first time seeing their widths get used:-

View attachment 114303

Unless those giraffes are very, very fat (as they'd be 25 bananas wide), each giraffe being used to measure the width of the asteroid would be on its side** so it's each giraffe's height that is equivalent to 25 bananas.


** - This may sound, to some, a bit cruel, but don't be concerned: as this measurement is taking place in space, it makes no difference to the giraffes which way "up" they are....

 

[farntfar]

It gets even more difficult when you look for more accuracy that rounding (or indeed heightening) to the nearest giraffe.

A length of 3 giraffes, 2 elephants and a beaver is sometimes hard to visualise, especially as we all know that the elephant unit corresponds to the distance around its stomach 17 lemmings back from it's neck.

 

[THX1138]

Unless those giraffes are very, very fat (as they'd be 25 bananas wide), each giraffe being used to measure the width of the asteroid would be on its side** so it's each giraffe's height that is equivalent to 25 bananas.


** - This may sound, to some, a bit cruel, but don't be concerned: as this measurement is taking place in space, it makes no difference to the giraffes which way "up" they are....

Are the bananas peeled or unpeeled? Are they ripe or unripe? This could give a missreading...