I'm guessing someone started with the banana metric and thought, "Now, bigger."
this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
315 points (98.2% liked)
Anything But Metric
532 readers
15 users here now
Americans will use anything but metric
The Rules:
-
Posts must be a screenshot, crosspost, or link to someone using a bizarre unit of measurement (33 lanes wide, as heavy as 10 semi-trucks, etc.)
-
Standard units are not allowed, unless it's a sufficiently bizarre usage of the unit (this is up to mod discretion.)
-
Intentionally terrible units are completely fine! Satire is welcome here
-
Curses are fine, slurs are not. If there are slurs in something you want to post, please blur them, or reconsider posting.
-
Flag NSFW content as such. NSFW words in these posts don't need to be censored.
-
Post titles should be just the unit of measurement used (not the thing being measured!), and should be the full name of the unit (Apples and Bags of Apples imply very different things!) NSFW units should be partially censored. If there are multiple units, list as many as you want. If the source is satire, the title should start with [Satire]
-
In the comments be civil, both to each other AND the subject of posts.
Mod Policy:
- All removes and bans will have a reason provided, and locked threads will have a stickied comment explaining the lock.
- Currently, this is just policy. If more mods join, these will become rules for mods. (Can't exactly punish myself, can I?)
founded 6 months ago
Assume a spherical giraffe.
On a frictionless plane?
With no air resistance.
It's usually not the scientists that write shitty headlines like this 🫤
What do you mean. The Daily Mail Online is known to be one of the most rigorous publications!
Hah!
americans will use anything but metric
Daily Mail is UK
Who do you think came up with the ridiculous units to begin with
In my mind half a giraffe is just a horse. Just say it is the size of a horse.
How many bananas are we talking about here?
yes
Why do some have the need to describe things in the oddest "measurements"? I understand that it makes it easier to imagine sometimes, but "half a" ... never mind, found someone who explains this much better than me: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/for-want-of-a-half-giraffe/
Thanks, Charles C. W. Cooke.
A giraffe is a unit of mass....
That’s an easy one, down the middle.
The third half
Halving always produces equal proportions
Only when halved along a line of symmetry.
A body cut in half at the waist, leaves you with two very different halves despite being the same length/height.
Cut in half along the spine though and you could have two equal, yet mirrored, halves.
With a long neck like a giraffe, half way down the length between the head+tail, one of those 'halves' is going to be much heavier/bulkier.
Then it isn't a half, because half is a term that has a specific meaning.