Reader Finds Unusual Units

 

Reader Ralph Y Komai writes that mention of the U.S. standard railroad gauge sent him on an electronic search that turned up an unrelated message on measurement.

 

Selected units:

 

·        1,000 aches:       1 kilohurtz  

·        2,000 mockingbirds:          2 kilomockingbirds

·        Basic unit of laryngitis:     1 hoarsepower

·        453.6 graham crackers:     1 pound cake

·        Ratio of an igloo’s circumference to its diameter:     Eskimo pi

·        100 rations:     1 C-ration

·        Half of a large intestine:     1 semicolon

·        2,000 pounds of Chinese soup:     Won ton

·        8 nickels:     2 paradigms

 

 

From the magazine “C & E News” (Chemical & Engineering News).