Unusual measurement units

[vanordinaire]

Following on from an interesting topic in the Scientific sub forum (thanks Vanguard 21), which developed into a discussion of imperial/metric units, I realised there are hundreds of unofficial measurements in general use today which haven't been accurately listed or quantified and I feel that we as motoring enthusiasts (and therefore very technical people) may be in a position to help the world with this.
I'll start with a few I know, feel free to add to/correct the list.

A ba' hair - unit of distance slightly bigger than a gnat's tit.
A shed load - unit of volume mostly used for bulky objects (also known as a st load by our antipodean cousins)
A heap - unit of volume, not as big as a shed load, but bigger than a pinch.
A country mile - unit of distance which is the same length as a standard mile but which seems much longer.

[dxg]

A metric ass-ton.

[Morningside]

A smidgen - just a tiny bit more.

[Einion Yrth]

A gnat's bk - smallest discernable distance.

[thesyn]

A bk hair's breadth - pretty narrow!

[motco]

An hour as a measure of distance between two places with no reference to means of transport nor speed.

[mfmman]

A measurement of time as used by rally drivers

The 'moment'

Passes in the blink of an eye for the driver but lasts several seconds and possibly even longer in the mind of his co-driver

[Morningside]

Rizla paper width or size of a packet of fags.

[2Btoo]

"F--k all"

and

"Chuff all"

Interchangeable measurements referring to amounts from "Nothing" to "A vast amount" depending upon your point of view.

[cookmysock]

A bee's dik.

can be a bit inaccurate though depending on the type of bee.

eg: a Welsh bee (a few millimeters. An Australian bee - about 175mm.

[southendpier]

BSH - British Standard Handful

used to measure the breasts of a female.

[Kenty]

a fag paper - "you couldnt get a fag paper between them" meaning an extremely small gap or near miss.

[marshalla]

mickle - not very much
muckle - quite a lot

[DuncB7]

Reference to the required torque of a fastener, RFT - Really fking Tight

[timbo999]

Furlongs per fortnight - what the speedo of my FS1E was calibrated in, according my hilarious Dad...

Edited by timbo999 on Friday 17th June 09:39

[marshalla]

gnat's crotchet and New York Minute for sub-attosecond measurements of time.

[DonkeyApple]

Goffey.

[Dogwatch]

motco said:

An hour as a measure of distance between two places with no reference to means of transport nor speed.

You've been reading too many motorway gantry signs!

[Zodiac M]

a brazilian = a lot

[AndrewEH1]

southendpier said:

BSH - British Standard Handful

used to measure the breasts of a female.

I like this one