12 Unusual Units of Measurement You Probably Have No Need For
Plenty of people argue that the United States is long overdue for a switch to the metric system. Maybe they should just be glad that we’re not dealing with these real, exotic measurements every day.
Morgen
Shutterstock
A German unit used to measure land area, one morgen was supposed to be the amount of land oxen could plow in one morning. Even worse, the actual size varied depending on where in Germany you were.
Oxgang
Shutterstock
Apparently, oxen had an outsized influence on ancient measurements. An oxgang was the amount of land that could be farmed with one ox, and in Scotland, was 13 acres.
Miner’s Inch
Shutterstock
Despite sounding like the title of a very bad romance novel, a miner’s inch was used by miners to measure the flow of liquid. It varied, but the most frequent measure seems to be how fast water flows out of a 1-inch square hole with a water level 4 inches above the top of said hole. Which, honestly, also sounds weirdly sexual.
Furman
Shutterstock
Named for mathematician Alan T. Furman, one furman is a minuscule angular measurement equal to 1/65,536 of a circle.
Jiffy
Shutterstock
A jiffy is, in fact, an actual measurement of time. The simplest usage is in electronics, where it measures the time between alternating current cycles, either 1/60 or 1/50 of a second depending on AC power standards where you live.
Micromorts
Shutterstock
Invented by, I assume, a goth scientist, a micromort represents a 1:1,000,000 chance of dying from a particular activity. For example, the average scuba dive comes out to 8 micromorts.
Butt
Shutterstock
Yes, a butt was indeed the name of a unit of measurement in England used for volume, roughly 130 gallons. Based on the size your mother’s, of course.
Hogshead
Shutterstock
Despite the name, no pigs involved here. A hogshead was another old English volume measurement: It was half a butt.
Hobbit
Shutterstock
If you’re thinking it’s going to be a unit of height as a nod to Tolkien, you’ve got it backwards. The hobbit was an old Welsh unit of volume equal to two and a half bushels.
Savart
Shutterstock
The savart is a measure of musical pitch so incredibly tiny that even musical savants wouldn’t likely pick it up by ear. It's roughly 1/300th of an octave.
Nibble
Shutterstock
The delightfully named computing measurement known as a nibble (or nybble) is, fittingly, half of a byte.
Quasihemidemisemiquaver
Shutterstock
In music, this is the much less convenient way to refer to a 128th note.
