Meet 5 other units of measure beyond crazy

Do not you think that the universe of units of measurement consists only of centimeters, yards, feet, pounds, grams, inches, pounds, minutes, horses, Kelvin and so on. As we mentioned earlier here in Mega Curioso - in the articles you can access through this link and this too - there are so many other units of measurement beyond crazy in use around the world.

For Katharine Trendacosta of the io9 portal has put together some of these unusual units of measurement in one interesting article, and you can see five of them a little better in the following selection:

1 - Barley grain

Does it seem crazy to create a unit of measure based on the size of a barley grain? For this measure exists and continues to be used in Great Britain and Ireland, and serves as a basis for determining the numbering of shoes produced there.

Thus each "barley grain" - or barleycorn - corresponds to one-third of an inch, and defines the difference between one shoe size and another. And just to complement the measure, a quarter of a grain is equivalent to a poppy seed.

2 - Cow per gram

The "cow per gram" is a unit of measure that used to be used in Ireland and was used to determine what area of ​​land is required to hold a single cow. And, according to Katharine, in the US there was a similar unit known as the “mother cow index, ” which established how many pregnant cows an acre of land could hold, but instead of focusing on the area, this measure referred to quality of the land.

3 - Helena

You must know the stories about Helena de Troia and her reputation for being the most beautiful woman in the world, owner of the face that launched a thousand ships into the sea and caused the greatest confusion between Greeks and Trojans, right?

For on the basis of that - that is, the amount of beauty needed to send a single Greek ship to war - this curious unit of measure was created. Thus each vessel from Ancient Greece launched into battle corresponds to a “millihelena”.

4 - Hands

Everyone has heard of feet - where a foot is 30 centimeters - isn't it? For hands have also served as a unit of measurement throughout history, which makes a lot of sense if we consider that they are the body parts most used to hold and manipulate objects.

Thus, in ancient Egyptian times it was common for people to use a clenched fist or hand width to estimate measurements. And in the 16th century, King Henry VIII of England tried to standardize the hand measurement to four inches.

The use of handles, widths and hands of different sizes turned things out a bit, but even today this unit of measurement - four inches for each hand - is used to calculate the height of horses. By the way, don't think measuring these animals is that simple, and it doesn't involve calculating their size from floor to ear! This is because the height of the horses is measured from the hooves to the withers, region on the back of the horses where the shoulders meet.

5 - Sydharb

As we have already explained here in Mega Curioso - in the article you can access through this link - it is common for people in England to use comparisons to measure the most varied things, such as Belgium and Wales, for example, serve as a comparative unit for designating the size of a given region.

In Australia there is a unit of measure called “sydharb” - whose name is a combination of Sydney Harbor or Sydney Harbor - which is used as a unit of volume. Thus, a sydharb corresponds to the amount of water in Sydney Harbor, which is equivalent to 500 gigaliters.

* Posted on 4/7/2015