• wheezy@lemmy.ml
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      20 hours ago

      For those confused, a meter is slightly less than a yard. Though because that system of measurement is ridiculously dumb to still use today. A mile isn’t 1000 yards. It’s 1760 yards.

      Edit: Yes, I reversed that. A meter is slightly more than a yard.

      • phutatorius@lemmy.zip
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        2 days ago

        A mile is 1000 paces (one left, one right) of a nominal Roman soldier carrying what was full kit in those days. Mille = 1000. Its value has drifted over the centuries and was different in England and France, and not even particularly well standardized in England until relatively recently.

        • wheezy@lemmy.ml
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          2 days ago

          For sure. I had another comment basically explaining it has always been a term of colloquial meaning to explain distance. It’s mostly only Americans that use it for real distance measurements. And even then a lot Americans explain distance in terms of “time it takes to drive”.