Measurements (단위)

[samedi]

Every election in the United States see politicians - though I am primarily referring to presidential candidates here - make campaign promises of what they want to change during their time in office. And after each election is finished I can't help but feel disappointed by the lack of discussion over one topic in particular: when will the United

Comments

Amanda Here

[anonymous]

고마워요!

Re: Amanda Here

[samedi]

괜찮아~

Amanda가 재미있는 주제에대해 물어서 고마워!

[anonymous]

Maybe, this will help answer your question.

It seems that you, and I, are in a definite minority as Americans owning increasingly expensive passports. We already have our own extremely large back yard of 50 states and territories that we can visit without the added expense of a passport which is something that most people in smaller nations (like South Korea) can't even/ever fathom doing.

Oh, yeah, this much better song would lose a lot of its power if the U.S. ever gives up on the mile.

John from Daejeon

[brighidn]

The problem with the metric system is that it's not well adapted to particular human usage. There are often reasons why arbitrary standards eventually fragment into industry-specific and culturally-specific usages, as happened after the Roman empire. It's often a question of focal resolution. Whether feet/inches or centimeters for measuring human height, both are arbtirary in their way, but feet are more human-scale. There's a similar problem with celsius versus fahrenheit, as British now forced to split degrees into decimals are learning

[samedi]

I see your point in preferring localized measuring systems. To be honest I had only meant for my opening paragraphs to serve as a rough introduction to my discussion of Korean measurements units, though it seems like they have garnered more attention than the rest of the entry.

The only measurements I use on a regular basis involve distances, weights, and temperatures. As a result, I forgot how convenient measurements such as cups and spoons can be for dealing with units of volume and mass. However, the inconsistent method of converting to larger sizes has always bugged me. 12 inches = 1 foot, 3 feet = 1 yard, 22 yards = 1 chain, 10 chains = 1 furlong, 8 furlongs = 1 mile. Perhaps this is just the scientist in me yearning for a more sterile system that operates in a consistent manner regardless of unit type?

I'm glad you mentioned this, as my preference for the metric system appears to be contrary to my usual inclination toward more localized ways of doing things. It's definitely a subject that I'll need to think about more.

[anonymous]

Hi samedi,
I love your informative post. How do you know so much about Korean? (Aside from living there.)

Do you know anything about the traditional clothing measurement called pok? I'm looking for a way to render it in English and would like to be able to explain how long a pok is, even roughly. The article I'm translating refers to the skirt of Joseon military or civilian dress for men (in this case, a cheollik) being up to 13 pok wide for yangban and no more than 12 pok for commoners.

Any clues? =)

Thanks,
Di

[anonymous]

I hate math but we have them in everything we do.