Measuring up - Part 2 of 2

Date: 5/23/2005

Compiled by www.TriviaQueen.com



English system for measuring grains used the 'measure-full'. Eight measures equaled a peck, and 16 pecks equaled a 'hlot.' Eventually the 'hlot' became 'a lot', so when you say you have 'a lot' of something, you're talking about 16 pecks!



The Romans noted that a 2-step pace of a marching man was about five feet. A thousand paces, or 5,000 feet, became their mile, which they called 'milia passuum' meaning 1,000 paces. However, farms in England were measured in furrow-longs, or furlongs, which equaled 660 feet. In 1575 Elizabeth I proclaimed that the mile should henceforth be 5,280 feet, so that it could easily

be divided into eight furlongs.



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