Talk:Metric yardstick

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[edit] Walking speed of man

A kilometer in 10 minutes is pretty quick, it's more like 14 minutes for an average stroll. --62.173.194.7 10:55, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Let's see...a man can walk three mile in an hour, which is 4.8 kilometres, so 1 kilometre would take 12 and a half minutes or so. - THE GREAT GAVINI {T-C} 12:03, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

6 km/h is a feasible walking speed for a man of average height, if a bit hurried. To me it's a fast walk without stopping or slowing down to rest, but without running or needing to catch my breath. In practice, I think it's easier to measure distance this way at a "high" walking speed rather than at a stroll, because it's harder to pick the same "stroll" speed from one day to another. Your "highest comfortable" speed (whichever it is) should be much more similar from day to day because it depnds more on your body metrics, such as the length of your legs. Also, it's more useful to know your appoximate speed at times when you're in a bit of a hurry (to catch that bus). --CodeGeneratR 01:30, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Metric meterstick

Note: the following discussion refers to the former title of the page: "Metric meterstick".

IS a meterstick a rule of thumb? Had anyone actually heard of one before they read this article? What is the the imperial equivalent of it - a yardstick? - THE GREAT GAVINI {T-C} 12:03, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes. From Wicktionary: yardstick A measuring rod thirty-six inches long, usually with a mark for each inch. (figurative): A standard to which other measurements or comparisons are judged. --agr 20:59, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

I agree with Gavini. Each meterstick you will come across is one metre long, and every single one of them is metric. This whole page is someone's home-grown fancy, a term that no one else uses, a confection decorated with the frosting of reduplicative tautology. --Sobolewski 00:01, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Should it be moved to Metric yardstick? I kind of like the juxtaposition.

"A 'meterstick' is a rough rule of thumb for comprehending a metric unit in terms of everyday life. The term itself was developed in those countries which completed metric conversion of ordinary measurements, and is not much used in the United States," states the article.

I come from such a country. I've never heard the word used this way. Ain't it odd that the article claims that the term was developed outside the US whilst it uses US spelling. I smell a rat.

Merriam Webster defines a meterstick "a measuring stick one meter long that is marked off in centimeters and usually millimeters". Neither the Cambridge Dictionary nor The American Heritage Dictionary have any entry for either metrestick or meterstick.

I've Googled "metrestick OR meterstick" and got about 33,400 hits but most of these seem to refer to the definition given by Webster. "Meterstick" alone gives about 31,200 hits whilst "metrestick" gives about 2,250, strongly suggesting that it is not a term used much outside the US to mean anything. I get about 105 hits for "'rule of thumb' metrestick OR meterstick" of these it seems that the only pages claiming that a metrestick is a rule of thumb is this article and its mirrors.

Comic though it may sound Metric yardstick is probably the best name for the article. I'm moving it. Jimp 12 October 2006 (UTC)