When did elephants become a unit of measure?

In this country at least, a 'football pitch' is how we know how long twelve-and-a-half London buses would be if you put them end to end.
 
unid said:
but pitches do vary in size.
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Indeed they do. They can be between 100-110m in length and 64-75m in width.

But the standard – to be used for international matches and approved by the game's key governing bodies such as FIFA, UEFA and the East Riding County FA – is 105m long and 68m wide. Ace.
 
Jaffa Cake said:
Indeed they do. They can be between 100-110m in length and 64-75m in width.

But the standard – to be used for international matches and approved by the game's key governing bodies such as FIFA, UEFA and the East Riding County FA – is 105m long and 68m wide. Ace.
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So, a pitch is a field here in the U.S., as in football “field?"
 
-aggie- said:
So, a pitch is a field here in the U.S., as in football “field?"
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Yes. Yes, it is.

Meanwhile, our bat and ball types don't pitch a ball – they bowl it. But – once the ball has been struck – the folks who try to catch it are – on both sides of the Atlantic – fielders. A field of course is a pitch...
 
Jaffa Cake said:
Yes. Yes, it is.

Meanwhile, our bat and ball types don't pitch a ball – they bowl it. But – once the ball has been struck – the folks who try to catch it are – on both sides of the Atlantic – fielders. A field of course is a pitch...
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So, bowlers in the UK do their thing on a pitch, and bowers in the US do their thing in an alley. And fielders can be on a pitch or a field depending on whether they drop their "H"s, .... but where does a pitcher hold water????

Now I'm confused. :rolleyes:
 
Elephants may be used to describe the mass involved in a natural disaster, but everything else is measured in s***loads.
 
snberk103 said:
So, bowlers in the UK do their thing on a pitch, and bowers in the US do their thing in an alley. And fielders can be on a pitch or a field depending on whether they drop their "H"s, .... but where does a pitcher hold water????
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Bowlers here do indeed do their thing on a pitch, but let's not forget that a cricket pitch is also a unit of measurement in its own right. The distance between wickets is 22 yards (20.17 metres), or one chain. The rest of the playing area beyond the pitch is, I believe, referred to as the field (divided into an infield and an outfield), unless anyone better versed in cricket can advise me otherwise.

So to clarify... when our bowlers play they do so on a field that contains an infield, an outfield, and a pitch that is also a chain – and they pitch the ball the full length of this chain.

I just hope poor -aggie- isn't stumped by all of this, as that should only happen in the crease...
 
Jaffa Cake said:
Bowlers here do indeed do their thing on a pitch, but let's not forget that a cricket pitch is also a unit of measurement in its own right. The distance between wickets is 22 yards (20.17 metres), or one chain. The rest of the playing area beyond the pitch is, I believe, referred to as the field (divided into an infield and an outfield), unless anyone better versed in cricket can advise me otherwise.

So to clarify... when our bowlers play they do so on a field that contains an infield, an outfield, and a pitch that is also a chain – and they pitch the ball the full length of this chain.

I just hope poor -aggie- isn't stumped by all of this, as that should only happen in the crease...
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In the Equine sports of course the unit of measure is a furlong ( length of a furrow for you farmers) which is ten of your cricketers pitches, it's all clever stuff, although why Rugby is played on a field in most places but a paddock in NZ is beyond me.
 
^^Would be great if they did. That would sort the men from the boys, or rather men from their ankles :D
 
Jaffa Cake said:
Bowlers here do indeed do their thing on a pitch, but let's not forget that a cricket pitch is also a unit of measurement in its own right. The distance between wickets is 22 yards (20.17 metres), or one chain. The rest of the playing area beyond the pitch is, I believe, referred to as the field (divided into an infield and an outfield), unless anyone better versed in cricket can advise me otherwise.

So to clarify... when our bowlers play they do so on a field that contains an infield, an outfield, and a pitch that is also a chain – and they pitch the ball the full length of this chain.

I just hope poor -aggie- isn't stumped by all of this, as that should only happen in the crease...
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I LOL'ed. :) You lost me at bowlers. :p
 
I had completely misinterpreted some of these measurement terms until reading further in the thread and accompanying links.

Pitch - Is the size of a playing field, right? Being from America I assumed when this was mentioned "For the record, there's quite a discrepancy between the length of an American Football pitch and its far nicer Association Football cousin." That it was a vague reference to the distance a Quarterback throws an NFL football when passing the ball. Then assumed the Association Football reference was when throwing a Soccer ball in from out of bounds or being thrown by the goalie.


Number of Whales - Is in reference to the country of Whales, right? As I assumed it was in relation the the animal. Then wondered if it was Blue, Pygmy, Humpback, Sperm, Killer &c.
 
In this instance, when I said 'pitch' I'm referring to the marked out area where the game takes place, nothing to do with throwing a ball. ;)

We refer to the playing area for soccerball as a pitch. Or a field, on occasion. Also, 'the park' – as in 'we played them off the park'. Usually though it's a pitch.

Oh, and on the matter of whales... no one lives in whales (well, except maybe that Jonah chap) but whales might like to swim off the coast of Wales. ;)
 
I think this image has weight in this discussion.
 

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Elephants are an obvious choice for a unit of measure. They're always right there in the middle of the room, but nobody seems to want to talk about them.
 
Gelfin said:
Elephants are an obvious choice for a unit of measure. They're always right there in the middle of the room, but nobody seems to want to talk about them.
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Realistically, I think gorillas would be a more useful reference, since we at least know they weigh 800lbs.
 
And when you need a smaller units, weaklings - since we know that they are 98 lbs.

"How big was the boulder that hit your car?"
"Oh, jeez... had to be about a Gorilla and 2, maybe 3 Weaklings at least..., eh?"
 
skunk said:
Realistically, I think gorillas would be a more useful reference, since we at least know they weigh 800lbs.
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It's interesting that would wouldn't prefer the metric system which favors actual mass rather than a measurement dependent upon altitude. However, I guess gorillas are a force to be reckoned with, after all.
 
steve2112 said:
Oddly enough, Adam Savage from Mythbusters tried to do just that. He published this survey called "Survey to Yield an Accurate Taxonomy of Idioms Pertaining to Large and Small Amounts". He was asking people to rate the relative size of things based on phrases. I have it saved in a PDF. Try this link (warning, it opens a PDF) for the survey. Some of the terms are great.
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I love Adam Savage! (well not in that way)

Good video of Adam thats worth watching: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/adam_savage_s_obsessions.html
 
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