[GZG] weights was Slightly OT - Hypothetical weapon

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[TomB] Metric makes sense for any form of engineering math. But for
> describing people's height and weight, Imperial seems more intuitive.

[Karl Heinz] Depends on the type of food, I guess, and on the quantity
you buy. In Germany, "Pfund" (pound) is still used colloquially when buying
some food (e.g.meat), though nowadays it is generally understood to be half a
kilo instead of whatever odd number of Gramms it was in the Kaiser's days.

[TomB] Well, a lot of our measures are drawn from common things of olden
ages... Road widths somewhat tie to horse/wagon widths, a pound is a
useful unit for food measurement because it has some correspondence with what
you might use making a meal (or a half pound would). A foot is somewhat like a
foot. A yard is somewhat like the distance of a long stride or fingertip to
armpit for some. A quart is about what you'd carry in a canteen. Using stones
as weight might make some sense. Etc.

> At 1:21 PM -0400 10/28/08, Tom B wrote:

And you can count to 144 (a gross) with your two hands an nothing else to mark
on. Grocers bought things in units of a gross or more and sold them
individually or in smaller sets (dozens).