General Chat

Just a mo then, got to try it your way......

yep, much better, almost 37" :-)

As I said, just as well I wasn't a material merchant in them olde dayes gone by. I'd never have survivied, would've got the sack on the first day!! :-S

P.S.
Another trick we were taught - the quickest/easiest way to measure 6" ?
Stretch out thumb and forefinger - tip to tip should be 6".
I still do this, ie when we're in Homebase or some such place. Hubby thinks I'm odd, but it works.

Yeah Karen that's why I do it my way :-D ( short arms !!)

Your way I would measure just over 32 inches, but by turning my head to the right !!!!
Magic , nearly 36 inches each time, wicked ,but it's the tricks of the trade ;-)

Sandie.xx
PS..peeps will think we are crazy !!

Sandie,Kemp aand Karen.

We were taught,Material between thumb and forefinger in right hand,Face turned left and then mearsure to the nose..
I still measure that way and my stretch is 37"..so someone has short arms ;-)

A chain was the length of the plough chain. A pole the legth of the ploughboys rod which he used to encourage the plough team along.

A furlong was the length of the ploughman's furrow and a chain by a furlong was an acre, the size of the pice of land an ox team could plough in a working day.

A yard was the length of a king's arm but I can't remember which king.

It all made sense then. All it is now is numbers.

Oh no no no Sandie!!! It's to the tip of your nose with head looking forward!!!
Now try it again with tape measure :-0 and let's see. :-D
(ref: your measured yard, I was thinking my arms seem incredibly short).


John, yes. I remember having to chant the rhyme in school
12 inches - 1 foot
3 feet - one yard
22 yards - 1 chain
10 chains - 1 furlong etc etc

Can I just throw one in for the boys. We used to do 22 strides between stumps for our cricket pitches. Think that was 22 yards, called a chain, tenth of furlong :-)

Karen I Just tested the 'yard 'measure too, and actually doing with a tape measure ,

I seem to recall, if it was material it was from my pinched finger and thumb on my left hand to the tip of my nose,head turned to the right..35 and 3/4 inches :-D

or tip of middle left finger to top of ear lobe ( head straight ahead ) 36 and a quarter inches ! :-D
Perhaps your arms are shorter than mine ;-) ;-) or it's me turning my head to the right .Hehehe !
I bet my sister still does it too !!!

33inches!!! oh thats not good and if you had been caught today you would need to pay a huge fine and close down your shop!!!

PC gone wrong just like the money

I've just tested mine with a measuring tape - comes to 33" . oooops!
Imagine if I'd worked in a material shop in 'ye olde days', I'd have been selliing my customers short ;-)

Anyone noticed, I've lost the winter robin and gained a Valentine's theme.

karen in the desert thats how I measure ...my kids think its bloody stupid!!!

And as for sweets well 6 of them for a half penny!! lovely

Lol Karen and Sylvia ,
I have short arms perhaps that's why it was' measured' to my ear ,and it was material we would be measuring , yes I still do it too :-D
Sandie.x

Ha ha and my yard was measured in yet another way........hold one end of the material between thumb and forefinger in outstretched right arm, and hold the other end of the material between left thumb and forefinger at tip of nose. ;-)

Sandie


my mother's measure (and the grammar school teacher's as well) was

.............. from the tip of the thumb on the right hand across the top of the chest to the start of the left collarbone

:-D :-D :-D



no wonder measuring used to be haphazard :-D :-D :-D




BTW .................. I still measure cloth that way :-D

I remember going to the shop for Dad's "ration" during WW11 and being asked "does he want Grande Pasha or Turk?" :-S

I seem to remember the 50 new pence coin being the first new one in circulation - well before D Day in Feb 71. Also, 5p and 10p came in early.

Such a furore over the 50p coin. We had always been used to a substantial bank note for 10/-. All of a sudden we had this horrible mis-shaped coin :-( :-( :-(

Mmmmmmmmmmm Karen, I had forgotten about Black Jacks I loved them and also Liquorice toffee :-D

Ithink farthings were withdrawn from circulation in about 1961 or 2. We were doing fractions at primary school and had to do all the money sums about farthings as ha'pennies.

Threepenny bits had thrift on one side.

P.S. Even though farthings were no longer legal tender by the time I got to pocket money/sweet shop age, I can remember them so they must have only recently been withdrawn from currency. Didn't they have a wren on one side?
Anyway, I well remember getting 4 chews for a penny. And by a penny I mean a penny and not one new pence :-S you could have Fruit Salads or Black Jacks.
I always went for the Fruit Salads! :-D

:-D :-D @ Karen

"librae, solidi, denarii"

How would the youngsters today cope with going back to Lsd? Times when an ounce was not a member of the cat family? You can't get an ounce into a pint pot. Nor a quart into a furlong :-S :-S

I had a chuckle to myself the other day whilst I was in a toy department searching for a present for a little girl.
I happened to see a display of 'old fashioned' shop things, packets of Lux Flakes etc and centre of the display were some replica old fashioned cash tills. I'm sure you all remember those great big tills with the price buttons on long 'stalks' which had to be pushed right down, then the price would be displayed by price tabs wihich popped up in a small 'window' on top of the cash till.
Well,these toy cash tills looked very authentic until I noticed the price buttons....they were marked 1 up to 12 for the pennies, and then had 1/- 2/- and 2/6. But instead of having 1d 2d 3d etc, they were marked as 1p 2p 3p - BIG ooooops to the manufacturer!!!! :-S :-S