Down With the Metric System! Trivia Quiz

Answer: It varies

The cubit is loosely defined as the length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. The term cubit actually comes from the Latin word "cubitum," meaning elbow. The problem with measuring things in cubits is that you have to specify what kind of cubit you're talking about. The Hebrew cubit, for example, was 20.4 inches (51.8 cm) long. But there was another Hebrew cubit, called the short cubit, that was only 17.5 inches. Not to mention the Greek cubit (18.2 inches), the Babylonian cubit (19.8 inches), and the Roman cubit (17.47 inches).

One cubit we know a lot about was the Egyptian cubit, because several so-called cubit rods have been found in tombs; they were sort of like a modern yardstick. The Egyptian cubit was 20.6 inches long, and was divided into seven palms, which were further divided into four fingers. Of course, I'm talking about the royal cubit, not the Egyptian short cubit, which was only 17.6 inches. By now you should understand why we no longer measure things in cubits.

What is true of the cubit is also true of the talent, which was a measure of weight. The Egyptians, Hebrews, Babylonians, Greeks and Romans all used talents, and the weight of the talent was different in each system. I have a sneaking suspicion that the scholars who translated the King James Version of the Bible just let the cubits and talents stand as they were, because they didn't want to do the math necessary to convert them into English feet and pounds.

Answer: 5 PM

One hour after sunrise was reckoned as the "first hour," and the subsequent hours were counted from there, so the eleventh hour would be the fifth hour of the afternoon. Most modern translations of the Bible just say "five in the afternoon."

Answer: No

The modern statute mile used in English speaking countries is 5,280 feet. The Roman mile was only 4,851 feet.

How did the mile get to become 5,280 feet in the first place? Why didn't they just make it an even 5,000? There's a good reason for that. Well, a reason anyway. In 1593, the English parliament passed a law that defined a statute mile this way: "A Mile shall contain eight Furlongs, every Furlong forty Poles, and every Pole shall contain sixteen Foot and an half." Of course, this law was only valid in England; the Scottish mile was considerably longer than the English mile, and the Irish mile was longer still. The Act of Union in 1707 made miles uniform in England and Scotland, but the Irish mile continued in use in some parts of the country until 1926. The nautical mile, used by sailors, is longer than a mile on land, and nobody could agree how long it was, so it was defined by an international treaty in 1929 as exactly 1,852 meters (about 6,076 feet). This is a rare example of the metric system being used to define a non-metric measurement.

Answer: Six feet

A fathom is traditionally defined as six feet, or two yards.

Of course, that is much too simple. The British Admiralty defined a fathom to be a thousandth of an imperial nautical mile (which was 6080 ft) or 6.08 feet. At one time, merchant ships and fishing vessels had their own version of the fathom, which varied anywhere from five feet to seven feet. Now, however, the fathom of six feet is almost universally used.

An expression that is still sometimes heard is to "deep six" something, meaning to get rid of it quickly and permanently. This dates back to the days of sailing ships when something tossed overboard in six fathoms or more of water was unlikely to ever be found or recovered.

Answer: 45 inches

According to the book, "Daily Life In Elizabethan England," woolen cloth was sold by the yard, but linen cloth was sold by the ell. Once again, you had to know which ell you were talking about. The English ell was 45 inches, but the Scottish ell was only 37 inches, and the Flemish ell a mere 27 inches. To prevent merchants from cheating their customers, every town was required to have an "ellwand." This was a measuring device of exactly one ell in length that could be used to make sure that merchants were giving their patrons cloth of the full length for their money.

Answer: Wine

These are all units used to measure wine. In the United Kingdom, a tun is defined as 210 gallons; a butt is half a tun, or 105 gallons; a puncheon is one-third of a tun, or 70 gallons; a hogshead is one-quarter of a tun, or 52 1/2 gallons; a tierce is one-six of a tun, or 35 gallons; a barrel is one-eighth of a tun, or 26 1/4 gallons; and, finally, a rundlet is one-fourteenth of a tun, or 15 gallons.

These same measurements are used in the United States, except in the U.S., a tun is defined as 252 gallons, so the amounts are all different.

Not by much, though, since the American gallon is significantly smaller than the Imperial gallon. If we were talking about ale, we'd use firkins and kilderkins, but we won't go into that right now.

Answer: Long ton

The long ton, used in the United Kingdom, is equal to 2,240 pounds. The short ton, used in the United States, is 2,000 pounds. The tonne, or metric ton, is equal to 1000 kilograms, or 2,204.623 pounds. The long ton is sometimes called the gross ton, and the short ton is called the net ton.

Answer: Troy ounce

The troy ounce is the equivalent to 31.1 grams; the Spanish ounce is 28.75 grams; the avoirdupois ounce is 28.35 grams; and the metric ounce is a mere 25 grams. Precious metals are usually weighed in troy ounces, and most other things in avoirdupois ounces.

There is an old riddle that goes: Which weighs more, a pound of gold or a pound of feathers? The correct answer is a pound of feathers. While an ounce of gold weighs more than an ounce of feathers, there are only twelve ounces in a troy pound, while there are 16 ounces in an avoirdupois pound.

Answer: Yes

An acre was traditionally the amount of land that one man with a team of oxen could plow in one day (how's that for an exact measurement?). It was later standardized at 1/640 of a square mile. An acre is equivalent to 4,840 square yards, 43,560 square feet, or about 4,047 square meters. This unit of measurement is called the the U.S. survey acre. There is, however, something called an international acre, which is just slightly smaller than the U.S. survey acre, and the builder's acre, which is exactly 40,000 square feet. And, of course, the Irish acre of 70,560 square feet. There are lots of other types of acres, but we won't go into them here.

The acre serves as the basis for larger units of measurement. For example, one common measurement is the section, which equals 1/4 of a square mile, or 160 acres, and the quarter section, which equals 40 acres. These terms are still in common use in the twenty-first century.

Answer: A gill

A gill (pronounced like Jill, not like a fish's breathing apparatus) is equal to either five imperial fluid ounces (in the United Kingdom), or 1/4 of a pint, or four ounces (in the United States). A shot, in the United States, is 1.5 fluid ounces; there are other size shots in other countries, but all are smaller than a gill.

A pony shot and a jigger are equivalent, each being equal to one fluid ounce in the United States. These measurements vary from country to country; for example, a Canadian shot is slightly smaller than an American shot. You will often see bartenders using a metal device that looks like an hour glass; the large end holds a shot, and the smaller end holds a jigger.