Stoned in NJ

[Jerome Keller <jkeller@cc-mail.pica.army.mil>]

     On Mon, 30 Oct 1995, Denise Thorpe wrote:
     
         "Only the British would feel the need to tell you that 72 is over  
          half of a hundred."
     
     and Ray Gibbons replied:
      
         "Not half a hundred, but half a hundredweight. A hundredweight is  
          something absurd, like 112 pounds.  So 72 pounds is only about a  
          stone more than half a hundredweight, give or take a couple of    
          pounds."
     
     Ray, do you mean pounds?  or guineas?
     
     And while we're at it, just what the hell IS a "stone" anyway? (scores 
     of old English films, and I STILL don't know....)
     
     Jerry Keller