this post was submitted on 12 Apr 2024
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[–] [email protected] 18 points 6 months ago (4 children)

Why is no one asking about 1/12th of an inch?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)

It's a reference to a horror book that starts with a protagonist discovering his house is slightly bigger on the inside. Spooky hijinks ensue, and somewhere along the way you loose your mind reading that book.

10/10 would recommend.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

I mean it starts with someone talking about finding a book in the apartment of a dead guy, but

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago

No need to ask, that is simply the length and girth of my micro penis

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Seems like a fantasy metric like all the others, what is wrong with it?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I don't know anything about the book in question, but I assumed it was because of the way the hook at the end of tape measures has a little play to it. If it's a poorly made tape measure that doesn't account for this properly, you get slightly different measurements by hooking around something versus pushing it against a surface.

(See point #5: https://www.ustape.com/hidden-features-of-measuring-tape/)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (2 children)

That wiggle is an 1/8". 12ths of an inch aren't really a thing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Oh right, fractions of an inch are usually expressed in fractions of powers of two. SI humour went right over my head because I'm used to seeing weird fractions involved in those measurements.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Feet are divided by 12 but inches are divided by 8. And a yard is a foot times 3.

It makes way more sense when you use it, but trying to explain it does make it sound crazy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

I thought it was powers of two because it's not hard to find the halfway point between two other points, so you find the 1/2 mark, then the 1/4 mark, then 1/8, 16, 32, depending on how much precision you need. Then, at some point the unit changes again to mils or something like that.

After doing some digging in to this, I was thinking of the thou or mil, which is a thousandth of an inch. There's also another one that I hadn't heard of: the line, which is apparently equal to... 1/12 of an inch. Lol full circle.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

If it's a poorly made tape measure to begin with, doesn't really matter. Could easily end up with 1/12" off.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

If it's really bad it might even be 2/7ths!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Don't forget the 1/2" drywall, 3.5" studs, 1/2" foam thing, and siding.