The best way to comparison subjects, a measurement of their characteristics. What's more? What's more? What's longer? These questions asked the children from early childhood, when they get a choice. To date, 95% of the population uses the metric system of measurement, but it was not always so. In the past there were many different systems. Some of them are clearly identifiable, and some are outdated, as a rule, foreign, and sometimes just weird system (pardon the pun). Below is a list of the ten most strange units of measurement. And if you are interested in this list, you might want to read the article "The 10 Most Unusual examples of scientific scales."

barleycorn

Barley grain served as the unit of length in the Anglo-Saxons. Initially, the actual length of the grain used, then, it has been standardized, and today is - 0.85, see one inch of the royal system of weights and measures was equal to three grains of barley. At the same time, a quarter of the grain rather charmingly called - poppy-head. Barley grain as a unit of measurement is still used to determine the size of the shoe. For example, 8, shoe size by one grain of barley is more than a size 7. Initially, the 13th was the largest size, it is 13 inches (33.28 cm). All dimensions are determined by subtracting the barley grains from the 13th size. Thus, the 4 th the size of the system is calculated as follows: 13 inches (33.28 cm) is subtracted nine grains of barley (9 sizes) (7.65 cm), the result is 10 inches (25.63 cm). This unit is still used in the U.S. and the UK as a unit the size of shoe.


Hands and fingers
This system of measurement of length used in England. It consisted in measuring the proportions of the hands and arms, including shoulders, for example, the distance from tip of outstretched thumb and little finger was 9 inches (23.04 cm). The length of the hand equals 4 inches (10.24 cm). The width of the palm was 3 inches (7.68 cm). Length of phalanx equal ⁷ / ₈ in. (2.2 cm), however, in some cases turned out to be longer than the nail, and then the length of the phalanx was 2. ¼ inch (5.7 cm). The width of the phalanx was slightly less than the length and amounted to ¾ inch (1.9 cm). Unit of measure, which was called «ell» (el) was 44. ½ inches (113.92 cm). This was the distance from the tip of the elongated middle finger to the opposite shoulder. The values ​​of all variables have their roots in the distant past.

plowing
English farmers of their land area was measured based on time spent with oxen plowing a certain area. Initially, the acre was considered the maximum area that an ox could plow in one day, and it was approximately 4047 m ². "Oksgeyt» (oxgate) - the maximum area that an ox could plow in a year, and it was 15 acres. "Virgeyt» (virgate) - max. area, which two oxen could plow in a year, and it was 30 acres. "Plowing» (carucate) - max. area, which is eight oxen could plow in a year, and it was equal to 120 acres.

"Furlong» (furlong) was considered the unit of distance rather than area, and it was equal to the length of a furrow plowed by an ox could in one go, and was about 200 meters title furlong (furlong) is derived from the fusion of two words furrow - and a long groove - length.

alcohol
The volume of alcohol had its own special name. In the North of England, the word "pony» (pony) meant as a little horse, and two sips of fluid (30 ml). Today, one serving of an alcoholic beverage called "a portion of a pony," in honor of the old name of a unit volume, despite the fact that the portions are not standardized, and their volumes are significantly different. Most of the system that was used in ancient times, was based on a doubling of the unit volume, which was called «jackpot» (jackpot). "Jackpot" was equal to 74 ml. The two "jackpot" equal to "Gil» (gill), doubling the "gil" received "cup", two "cups" were equal to a pint, two pints equal to a quart, two quarts equal to "pottlu» (pottle), two "pottla" equal to the gallon, two gallons equal to ¼ bushels, doubling ¼ bushels received "bucket," two "buckets" were equal to bushels, equal to two bushels of "Strike» (strike), two "strikes" equaled "Koumi» (coomb), two "Koumi" equal to "a barrel "two" barrels "were equal to the barrel, two barrels were equal to the" big barrel »(hogshead). An interesting fact! Inn «Hog's Head», in a story about Harry Potter, is named in honor of the volume of alcohol, which was 250 liters. In recent years the amount of alcohol is measured bottles, equivalent to a standard bottle of champagne (750 ml).
Death and Destruction
In Europe, the word "grave» (grave) was used as a unit of weight, then the name of the unit of weight was changed to the modern "pounds." "Grave» (grave) is derived from the word "gravity» (gravity), a fitting name for a unit of weight, then it was changed to the word "gram", and later changed to "pounds", during the French Revolution. To measure the energy, and in describing the release of large amounts of energy during a natural disaster, a unit of - "Hiroshima Bomb", it is equal to 60 000 GJ (gigajoules). For measurement of radioactivity, which allocates all living in small quantities, the unit is used - "the equivalent of a banana." This unit corresponds to the number of radioactive isotopes that enter the body by eating a banana. This term can be used to explain the negative effects of X-rays and other common radioactive procedures. A dose of "banana equivalent" is approximately 0.11 mSv (microsieverts). For comparison, the 70 mSv (millisieverts) - is the dose received by a person in his life.
Time
Does anyone ever told you that performs an action for "instant" or a time equal to "shake the tail of the lamb?" "Moment" and "jitter" - is the real unit of time. "Moment" is 0.1 seconds, and "trembling" - 10 nanoseconds. They are used for convenience of calculations in the computer and nuclear engineering, respectively. "Moment" is 90 seconds. In medieval Europe, often used the Latin word «atomus», which according to modern calculations is equal to 160 milliseconds. Another unit of time is the life expectancy of a dog. The myth, which is based on this unit, says that seven years of life a dog is equivalent to one year of human life. Dogs, in fact, do not live "faster", they are aging differently, depending on the breed, and to measure the dog's life for years about the man, as pointless as measured relative to the years of snails clams. Nevertheless, the myth has become so popular that now there is a dog year, and its duration is 52 days, about ⅟ ₇ standard year.

Troy
In ancient legend of Troy, said that a woman had only one such beauty that the bravest and strongest warriors fought for it with such ferocity that there were terrible war. This woman was Helen of Troy. Nowadays, there is a term "Elena", which defines the "strength" of beauty, and named in honor of Helen of Troy. According to legend, Helen was so beautiful that it could "force" the beauty of its "Thousands fill the sails of ships," so that the unit of measurement equal to one Helen is such a "force" the beauty. If the beauty of a woman can fill the sails of only one ship, its "force" the beauty is equal to 1 milliElene. And if the beauty of the woman is able to sink a ship, its "strength" is -1 milliElene. Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, the first who used the term "Helen," as the unit of measurement, since the term is used throughout. According to legend, the siege of Troy lasted 10 years, but as a result of the city was captured by treachery. Thus, the term is a Trojan can be used as a measure of protective abilities during the siege for a certain period. If the defense withstood a siege for years, the ability to protect estimated as 0.1 Troy.
Technology
Since then, as a celebrity Wil Wheaton (Wil Wheaton) scored a half-million followers on Twitter (Twitter), it was named after a measure popularity - "Wheaton." Private Twitter user has an average of about 150 followers, that is 300 mikroUitonov. Another example of unusual units of measurement may serve as a world famous brand of Gillett (Gillete). The term "Gillette" means the power of the laser. The laser power of 5 "Gillett" can burn five blade razor. The term "Mickey", named in honor of Mickey Mouse, is a measure of computer mouse movements, and is equal to the shortest movement of the mouse (about 0.1 mm), which is determined by a computer. Many computer users are familiar with the term "byte", which is used to represent the unit of information. There is also the term «niddle» (Needle), which is half byte. Another strange unit of measurement called a "bearded Seconds," which is similar in concept to the unit "light year", but it is equal to the length of the hair, beard, which he grows in one second, and is about 5 nm (0.000000005 m).
Human effort (with a minus sign)
During the Second World War, very useless man known as Commander Pouter (Pouter), was causing a lot of trouble, disrupting or delaying a number of important issues and decisions that were important to the Allies. The term "Pouter" is now used to measure the amount of obstruction, produced by one person. The commander was Pouter poravnen Pouteru to 1, but then, people from the immediate environment Poutera came to the conclusion that a normal person can not have a "destructive superpower," and therefore decided to use a more realistic one of 0.1 Poutera the measurement of ordinary people. Spatial adaptation syndrome is well known to NASA. Often, it is also called spatial disease. It is characterized by difficulties in acclimatization that astronauts experience in abnormal gravity and pressure. To measure the extent of the syndrome scales used Garneau, named in honor of Jake Harney (Jake Garn), who suffered from intolerance of orbital flight, which was accompanied by excessive vomiting. Garn is a similar degree of manifestation of this syndrome, which was found near the Garnier.
Animals
Maternity index cow, until recently, been used in U.S. agriculture for determining the maximum number of pregnant cows, which can support a certain piece of land. Even without taking into account yields, this index gave an accurate picture of soil fertility. Another strange unit - donkey power. This is almost the same as horsepower, except that the ass is only a quarter of the strength of the horse, and is equal to 250 watts.
The unit of distance measurement, "Shippee» (sheepy) was invented by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd. This is the minimum distance at which sheep look picturesque, and it is equal to 1.4 km. In the metric system measures kilo is a unit of mass, and the royal system of measures, the pound is a unit measuring the strength of weight, based on somewhat different concepts: the weightlessness, you still have a lot, but do not have weight. "Slug» (slug) unit of mass in the old royal system of measures, and it is approximately 15 kg. To measure and compare the huge masses, used elephants. Generally, these measurements are used by the average weight of adult male savannah African elephant, which is 5.4 tons, or an elephant. Dinosaurs and whales are often measured in elephants.