Roland Dudley <cobra@cdc.hp.com> asks:
> According to the dictionary this is either
> 100 pounds or 112 pounds. Does anyone know which value would be correct
> for this time frame?
Garry Archer:
> I can just imagine the original conversation, "Those
> Limeys, just how on earth did they come up with 112 pounds for a
> hundredweight anyway? Just plain dumb.
It probably came about when the French weighed the stones that the English
were using for their standard weights & measures.
Another point, there are 20 cwt in a ton, as well as 20 cwt in a tonne!
We recognise the short ton of 2000 lbs, and the long ton(ne) of 2240 lbs.
From: megatest!bldg2fs1!sfisher@uu2.psi.com (Scott Fisher)
>>cwt is in fact the abbreviation for hundredweight (c for centi-).
[of course, *that* comes from the Roman system!]
>>112 pounds it is, or 8 stone (14 lb per stone). Thus a 19cwt car
>>weighs 2128 lb, or 967.27 kg.
Which means that there are 160 stone in a tonne. If there were American
stones, they would weigh 12 1/2 lbs, or just a bit more than a dozen. (did
some mutant baker have 12 or 13 fingers, or what?)
It also meant that the car would weigh 152 stones. But if we used an
American Stone, we would probably need about 12 or 13 Daren's to make the
weight of the car.
If you think this discussion is getting trivial, you just don't understand
the gravity of the situation. Don't take it too lightly.
Roger -I think this 1/2 to 2 feet of snow
is weighting down my brain- Garnett
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