Why is a mile 5,280 feet? (Why is a nautical mile different??)

August 25, 2020 12:11 PM

Peter S Magnussen has a blog, and he explains in extraordinary, riveting detail.

I was idly driving along and wondered (as I often do) "Why is a mile 5,280 feet?" A quick Google search informed me that it's defined as 8 furlongs, 660 feet each.

"So great," I thought. "Who decided what a furlong is?"

Mr. Magnussen's blog entry answered my questions and then some:

Failing to find a good write-up of the origins, I’ve pieced together my own theory over the years. And it’s a fun one because the answer (or rather, hypothesis) is simply this: the number 5280 arises out of a collision between organized religion, the military, and taxation. Three powerful historical forces, to be sure, so the fourth pillar to modern society (rationality) obviously has to be the one to compromise!

He also discusses such diverse subjects as:

Gasoline Prices
and
Mental Calculators

I'd never heard of him before today.

posted by ZakDaddy (33 comments total)

organized religion, the military, and taxation

This is like the Perfect Storm of Metafilter's favorite topics!
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:14 PM on August 25, 2020 [7 favorites]

this is great stuff.
posted by chavenet at 12:31 PM on August 25, 2020

I feel like I know more about this topic now than I ever truly expected to know in my lifetime.
posted by hippybear at 12:52 PM on August 25, 2020

This would be a lot more fun to me if it was merely a curious historical detail and not a grinding reality that I have to compensate for several times a day. Or worse, check charts so we don't get this wrong when converting to something sane like kilometers.
posted by bonehead at 1:11 PM on August 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

I believe we have Ronald Reagan to thank for that, bonehead.
posted by hippybear at 1:13 PM on August 25, 2020

This would be a lot more fun to me if it was merely a curious historical detail and not a grinding reality that I have to compensate for several times a day.

What do you have to compensate for? Not doubting; just curious.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 1:16 PM on August 25, 2020

Marine and terrestrial environmental data. Frequently dealing with inter-site distances in nautical miles (for ocean surface) with kilometres (on land). Atmospherics are a bit of a mess again. Yes GPS helps a lot, but that's another calculation/conversion.

Mostly grumpy because I've been doing it a lot recently.
posted by bonehead at 1:26 PM on August 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

This is so fantastic. I love the idea of pacing off distance in base 20 by walking around counting your fingers and toes!
posted by TheCoug at 1:28 PM on August 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

The Mars lander which didn't land thanks to lack of unit conversion is always brought to mind in discussions like this.
posted by hippybear at 1:29 PM on August 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

MetaFilter: This would be a lot more fun to me if it was merely a curious historical detail and not a grinding reality
posted by chavenet at 1:38 PM on August 25, 2020 [10 favorites]

Read the other two articles as well - striking that one of his last posts was about joined some 'new startup' - Snapchat.
posted by zenon at 1:45 PM on August 25, 2020

There is a small linux tool I play around with called units. For instance, did you know there are 118.20896 smoots per furlong?
posted by jim in austin at 2:00 PM on August 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

Needs more aglets.
posted by flabdablet at 2:29 PM on August 25, 2020

The Mars lander which didn't land thanks to lack of unit conversion is always brought to mind in discussions like this.

It was an orbiter that didn't orbit. We still don't know whether Mars Climate Orbiter skipped off the atmosphere or is scattered in little toasty pieces across the surface of Mars.
posted by zamboni at 2:32 PM on August 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

There is a small linux tool I play around with called units.

The definitions.units file built into that tool, usually installed at /usr/share/units/definitions.units if you have it on your system, is quite a thing.
posted by flabdablet at 2:36 PM on August 25, 2020 [5 favorites]

This discussion has led me to finally figure out what the "dwt" unit on my gram scale is.
posted by clawsoon at 4:26 PM on August 25, 2020

something sane like kilometers.

The thing I learned from this post, though, is that the mile actually WAS originally 1000 of something else, but over time different something elses that fit into the mile in various ways became more or less important, standards of various cultures merged imperfectly, and eventually decree by fiat of close-enough conversion factors was the only way anyone was gonna fix the mess.

In other words, metric isn't smarter, it's just younger.
posted by solotoro at 6:53 PM on August 25, 2020 [4 favorites]

In other words, metric isn't smarter, it's just younger.

Metric is the Atlas Shrugged of measurement systems.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:03 PM on August 25, 2020 [3 favorites]

something sane like kilometres

It is my theory that the only way the US will come home to the metric system is if they get an American Meter which is slightly off everyone else's metre, and if each state with a monopoly gets to have its own statutory 'liter' for the purposes of alcohol regulation, amended by the local Liquor Control Board
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 8:42 PM on August 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

The US is already pretty hip to the liter thanks to soda bottling conventions. I mean, I don't know if they know what it MEANS, but as a unit, it's familiar.
posted by hippybear at 8:47 PM on August 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

Oh that's easy, it means "a single supersized serving of fizzy sugar-water".
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:54 PM on August 25, 2020 [2 favorites]

The US is already pretty hip to the liter thanks to soda bottling conventions

Which is funny because here in Canada pop cans are 355 ml because American cans are 12 ounces.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 10:15 PM on August 25, 2020

> The US is already pretty hip to the liter thanks to soda bottling conventions.

Except that many, maybe most, people in the US refer to 2-liter soda bottles as "liter bottles" -- since 1-liter bottles are mostly the domain of seltzer and mineral water -- so it's more like the difference between recognizing a hockey mascot and knowing how to play hockey.
posted by ardgedee at 5:11 AM on August 26, 2020

> solotoro:
"something sane like kilometers.

The thing I learned from this post, though, is that the mile actually WAS originally 1000 of something else, but over time different something elses that fit into the mile in various ways became more or less important, standards of various cultures merged imperfectly, and eventually decree by fiat of close-enough conversion factors was the only way anyone was gonna fix the mess.

In other words, metric isn't smarter, it's just younger."

same thing with fluid ounces and gallons and barrels.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 6:56 AM on August 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

Really? I've only ever heard them referred to as two-liter bottles.

(and probably between 5-7 years ago, companies starting providing one-liter bottles as well)
posted by LizBoBiz at 6:58 AM on August 26, 2020

At least our long flat 3-liter nightmare ended a couple of decades ago.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 7:21 AM on August 26, 2020 [2 favorites]

And don’t even start with fluid ounces vs ounces.
A 12-ounce jar holds a pound of honey.
posted by SLC Mom at 9:45 AM on August 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

> At least our long flat 3-liter nightmare ended a couple of decades ago.

I saw 3-liter bottles of soda at Aldi less than an hour ago.
posted by ardgedee at 11:04 AM on August 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

barrels

I learned an awful thing about oil barrels the other day.

In the oil industry, following the definition of the American Petroleum Institute, a standard barrel of oil is often taken to mean the amount of oil that at a standard pressure 14.696 pounds per square inch (101.325 kPa) and temperature 60 °F (15.6 °C) would occupy a volume of exactly 1 barrel (159 L). This standard barrel of oil will occupy a different volume at different pressures and temperatures. A standard barrel in this context is thus not simply a measure of volume, but of volume under specific conditions. The task of converting this standard barrel of oil to a standard cubic metre of oil is complicated by the fact that the standard cubic metre is defined by the American Petroleum Institute to mean the amount of oil that at 101.325 kPa and 15 °C (59.0 °F) occupies 1 cubic metre. The fact that the conditions are not exactly the same means that an exact conversion is impossible unless the exact expansion coefficient of the crude is known, and this will vary from one crude oil to another.

posted by zamboni at 11:16 AM on August 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

3-liter bottles of soda are evil. Unless you're having a giant party, and even then... just get the 2-liters. 1-liters are for car trips. (I don't drink soda, but I used to.)
posted by hippybear at 11:17 AM on August 26, 2020

I saw 3-liter bottles of soda at Aldi less than an hour ago.

Was one of them a store-brand Dr. Pepper clone?

(If so, what does Aldi call it?)
posted by Huffy Puffy at 12:13 PM on August 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

> (If so, what does Aldi call it?)

Dr. Dazzle, I guess. I wasn't paying attention because I mostly don't like soda.
posted by ardgedee at 4:55 PM on August 26, 2020

This standard barrel of oil will occupy a different volume at different pressures and temperatures.

Yes.

I have long found the fact that fluid fuels are priced and dispensed by volume to be a bit ridiculous. The amount of energy you get from burning any given mass of any given fuel is consistent, so it seems to me that all fuels, not just solid ones, really should be priced by grade and mass, not grade and volume.
posted by flabdablet at 4:38 AM on August 27, 2020