[Leica] Metric absurdity

[lrzeitlin at gmail.com (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

Metric, shmetric. Therer is another measurement system that a large portion
of the transportation industry uses. Distance is measured in nautical miles,
approximately one minute of arc at the Equator. Speed is described in knots,
one nautical mile per hour. The most absurd of these units in common use is
the fathom.


A fathom is the (archaic) unit of measurement for depth in most maritime
countries and also for lengths of rope or cables. Originally it was the
length of rope that could be held between a man's outstretched arms, hence
Munchkins and Vikings must have had different sized fathoms. The Brits
standardized on the length of the King's arms. In Arthurian times, the
fathom was five feet. Interestingly, the foot is another measure of length
based on a portion of human anatomy. In this case it was determined by the
length of the King's foot. Thus a five foot fathom implies that Arthur was a
small man with big feet. By the time of Charles the First, the fathom had
grown to about five and a half feet. Queen Elizabeth had long arms but very
small feet so her favorite mariner, Sir Walter Raleigh used a six foot
fathom. And so it has come down to us.


The modern history of the fathom is equally confusing. Samuel Clemens, as an
apprentice Mississippi riverboat pilot was afflicted with a bad lisp which
made it impossible for him to correctly pronounce some words beginning with
"t". Rather than call out a lead line sounding of two fathoms as "mark foo",
he substituted the old English word "twain". Had he been working on the
railroad, he probably would have chosen another word. Since the draft of the
Mississippi riverboats was always less than 12 feet, the refrain "mark
twain" meant good times ahead, particularly if headed toward New Orleans.


Despite its colorful and confusing history, the fathom is slowly being
abandoned in most seafaring countries. A rather mundane metric system is
being adopted. "Mark Twain" is now 3.6512 meters. Huck Finn would be
appalled.


I hope this makes everything perfectly clear.


Larry Z