Hyperbolic units of...
 

Hyperbolic units of scale

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Doing some garden jobs today, and Mrs Bloke awoke a slumbering hornet when opening a garden umbrella. She exclaimed 'It's like a Lancaster bomber'!  I'd have gone for B52 myself. To be fair it was impressively big, but maybe not WW2 bomber big.

I love an exaggerated unit of scale. Hailstones like golf balls, rats the size of cats, dragonflies like pterodactyls, a jobby the size of King Kong's finger.

Whatya got?

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 8:01 pm
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Scammel Wheel Nuts.

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 8:06 pm
susepic, duncancallum, winerwalker and 11 people reacted
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With reference to speed; like a tramp on hot chips.

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 8:08 pm
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Hailstones like golf balls,

This is already happening in some parts of Europe. That's a warming climate  for you

I blame the dogs the size of Land Cruisers

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 8:08 pm
mattyfez, Drac, mattyfez and 1 people reacted
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Scammel Wheel Nuts.

😆 See also, chapel hat pegs, fighter pilots thumbs....

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 8:09 pm
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Hailstones size of golf balls in Hinckley a few years ago wrote my wife's car off.

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 8:24 pm
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Cinnamon buns the size of bear cubs

Beans, beans, as big as submarines

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 8:35 pm
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Hailstones like golf balls,

I was caught in a summer storm last year (north Spain) with hailstones this size, thankfully we were under cover and had parked the car in an underground car park. All the cars out on the street had dented metalwork, massive damage to the trees, etc.

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 9:15 pm
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Automotive roadholding:

Sticks like sh1t to a blanket

Speed:

Goes like greased weasel sh1t

Swimming:

Like a greased otter

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 9:24 pm
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Gnats cock.

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 9:26 pm
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An arse the size of a barn door.

🙈

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 9:38 pm
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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p_GLSgJ39Dc&pp=QACIAgA%3D&rco=1

Or as put by the Divine Comedy - the size of a small country

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 9:46 pm
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SI unit of very heavy things = whales

SI unit of very long things = double decker buses end to end

SI unit of large bodies of water = Olympic swimming pools

SI unit of comparative size of countries = France (or Wales if you've not converted to metric)

SI unit of long distance= how far [and back] to the moon, or times around the equator

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 9:55 pm
blokeuptheroad, leffeboy, debaser and 5 people reacted
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“Mad as biscuits.”

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 10:03 pm
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Banging like the shithouse door on a Grimsby trawler

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 10:09 pm
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Like a fat kid on a cup-cake.

Wait.. Are we doing metaphors or similes?

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 10:13 pm
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Specifically size/scale comparisons.  Seems to have off wandered a bit. @nickc your list made me chuckle!

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 10:19 pm
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@Edukator - there's a couple of meteorologists in France well worth following for that kind of stuff. Yann Amice and Gilles André - lots of posts on Twitter

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 10:24 pm
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What's the ratio of imperial gallons to Donald Trumps?

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 10:26 pm
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https://www.theregister.com/Design/page/reg-standards-converter.html for the full, official list

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 10:31 pm
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Bawhair

Standard unit of measurement here in Scotland. Rarely accurate

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 10:44 pm
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Measure of dampness: wetter than an otter's pocket.

I had to invoke that after last Saturday's ride which, in turn, may have invoked my last couple of forum posts about replacing freehub bearings....

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 11:30 pm
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I’ve deleted the description but, ‘like a donkeys yawn’ is my favourite.

 
Posted : 01/05/2024 11:43 pm
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"Bawhair

Standard unit of measurement here in Scotland. Rarely accurate"

As well as bawhair being a measurement of distance baw is also a meaurement of depth.

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 12:04 am
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A real one. An ex boss whose first job was at Jodrell Bank said they measured energy density in British Thermal Units per cubic Megaparsec

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 12:10 am
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I was hoping for some of this type of thing:

We all know that the geometric object of minimal surface area amongst all shapes with a fixed volume is the round ball, whose boundary is spherical. Water blobs try to minimise surface area and curl into spherical droplets. The physical problem of surface-area minimisation is thus quite well understood. What about the opposite problem of surface-area maximisation? Does the problem even make sense? Indeed it does. Trees try to maximise surface area to get the most of sunlight through their leaves. Sea anemones and sponges work to maximise their surface area to maximise contact with water to obtain food. Gills in fish and animal lungs try to maximise the surface area so that more oxygen goes into the blood. The resulting geometry is hyperbolic—a geometry that is, as expected, quite the opposite to spherical geometry.

Which I find interesting but am not able to comprehend the maths behind it. It came from here, if you're interested: https://researchmatters.in/news/ubiquity-hyperbolic-geometry

(where it rapidly surpasses my comprehension in the first sentence of the second paragraph!)

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 12:47 am
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There is such a unit as a Sydharb.

And as for hailstones. We get these localised storms every year or so which lead to entire neighbourhoods needing new roofing and cars.

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 1:19 am
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The size of 3 bananas

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 3:09 am
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Any large land area can obviously be compared to ‘the size of Wales’ or multiples of.

if we’re talking  similes and in the same vein as Hippo’s Yawn then ‘cavernous as a Wizard’s sleeve’ is a good one.

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 6:59 am
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Mad as a box of frogs?

Like two squirrels in a bag?

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 7:07 am
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Bawhair

Standard unit of measurement here in Scotland. Rarely accurate

But very precise.

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 7:16 am
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I see your donkeys yawn and raise you a hippo, courtesy of RW.

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 7:34 am
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Surely in the internet age the only true internationally recognised unit of scale is the banana.?

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 7:40 am
 TedC
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SI unit of very heavy things = whales

SI unit of moderately heavy things = elephant

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 8:01 am
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Fart - a unit of torque. IE tighten it till you fart.

'it needs some hair around it' - not a unit of measurement but a helpful engineering guide when struggling with concentric alignment.

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 8:13 am
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Mass: the metric shit ton

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 8:15 am
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Slower than a stuned slug. - slow

A midges dick - small

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 8:40 am
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SI unit of fear... Brick (shitting thereof)

Multiple units in residential units.

"Shit a brick?! I just shat 4 bed semi"

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 8:55 am
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When referring to exceedingly under inflated tyres...

Flat as a badger on a bypass

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 9:03 am
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Slower than a stuned slug. – slow

My favourite is "slower than a herd of turtles stampeding through treacle".

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 9:05 am
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Brain the size of a planet

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 9:14 am
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I'll see your "yawning hippo/wizard's sleeve" as a unit of measurement and add in the more poetic descriptions "gurning chimp" or "badly packed kebab"

See also the "he's thicker than" comparisons of :

  1. whale omelette
  2. submarine hatch
  3. Boxing Day turd
 
Posted : 02/05/2024 10:23 am
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anyone remember the Arabian Knights cartoon?

size of an elephant

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 12:48 pm
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Brain the size of a planet

Wasn't it Liz Truss who was described as having an ego the size of a planet but a brain the size of a pin. ??

Or words to that effect anyway.
Very accurate.

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 1:06 pm
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Bananas: My dentist told me the radiation dose from an X-ray was less than eating a banana.

I thought he was bananas, but apparently there is a concept of Banana Equivalent Dose (BED)  to make the concept of radiation exposure easily digestible

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 1:25 pm
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Brass Monkeys / Pure Baltic

Gnat's chuff

Hunners

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 1:27 pm
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Bawhair

This is a scale. Cheese slice > fag paper > bawhair > gnat's cock.

British Thermal Units per cubic Megaparsec

I find it curious that we don't do this more.  Like, we'd say "America is five thousand kilometres away."  No, it's five megametres away.  We have absolutely no issue with putting 16 gigabytes of RAM and a 1 terabyte hard disk in a computer, why do we fail so badly with say a 60 kilolitre swimming pool?

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 1:41 pm
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If something's a little loose "like a dogs c*** in a shirt sleeve"

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 1:43 pm
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On the wizard's sleeve:  Like throwing a hotdog down a corridor.

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 1:59 pm
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No, it’s five megametres away.

because Megameters is very obviously a villain in a cheap Saturday morning cartoon, or  a character in of those educational  TV programmes of the '70's to help kids work out maths

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 2:36 pm
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Torque is obviously measured in Ugga Duggas (IYKYK)

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 2:42 pm
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A megameter is something else entirely.

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 2:45 pm
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This is a scale. Cheese slice > fag paper > bawhair > gnat’s cock.

For true precision you would step down to an ant’s bawhair

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 2:46 pm
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Shirley Dec is the smaller of the annoying duo?

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 3:07 pm
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Dec is eternally 13.  Nae bawhair to speak of.

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 3:14 pm
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Torque is obviously measured in Ugga Duggas (IYKYK)

I still use dakkas (or for a small tightening, a single dak). WHich is probably unwise, because you always need more dakka

 
Posted : 02/05/2024 4:44 pm
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Hailstones like golf balls

Having watched the Stormchasers series on tv sometime back, those are the small ones, hail precursor to an F3/4 tornado can be the size of apples, and with spikes, those can and do kill people! You wouldn’t want to be ground zero when these were falling…

Oh, and a banana is now the standard reference for any unit of measurement, length, breadth, width, height, etc.

[img] [/img]

BTW, my favourite is ‘mad as a bag of owls’. 🤪

 
Posted : 03/05/2024 3:28 am
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I made way too much soup for dinner, it was a hyper bowl

 
Posted : 03/05/2024 3:30 am
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those are the small ones, hail precursor to an F3/4 tornado can be the size of apples, and with spikes, those can and do kill people!

This hail at my place

IMG_1810

Did this to the eucalyptus trees they look like they had been strafed by machine guns (plus sandblasted and dented the roof). It happened in the middle of the night which people were amazed by with 100mph wind. Definitely think I'd have been killed if I'd been outside.

IMG_2023

 
Posted : 03/05/2024 4:08 am
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Anyone going out in that would be dumber than a box of hair.

 
Posted : 03/05/2024 11:01 am
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No mention yet of "shedload"?

 
Posted : 03/05/2024 12:46 pm
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Since Brexit we're no longer bound by the standard EU approved banana length, rendering it useless as a unit of measurement. I'd suggest Greggs pastie as an Imperial system replacement

 
Posted : 03/05/2024 1:17 pm
 Drac
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Less seats than the reform party.

 
Posted : 03/05/2024 1:50 pm
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The Day Today weather forecast had some beautiful ones:

"About as warm as a cow."

"As loud as a woman."

And one I heard in real life in an entirely different context:

"You could slam-dunk an apple in it without touching the sides."

 
Posted : 03/05/2024 2:48 pm
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Oh, and a banana is now the standard reference for any unit of measurement, length, breadth, width, height, etc.

Surely the unit of measurement of breadth is the Warburton's Toastie loaf?

 
Posted : 03/05/2024 3:01 pm
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I'm feeling the pressure of trying to come up with more jokes for this thread, it's become a hyperbaric units of scale thread

 
Posted : 03/05/2024 3:21 pm
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The Glaswegian number scale :

Wan, Two, Some, a few, loads, shitloads, hunners, pure hunners, millions, pure millions.

 
Posted : 03/05/2024 3:27 pm
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Thick as mince.

 
Posted : 03/05/2024 3:45 pm
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The Glaswegian number scale :

Wan, Two, Some, a few, loads, shitloads, hunners, pure hunners, millions, pure millions.

Aye right. No weegie can count past pure hunners.

 
Posted : 03/05/2024 6:16 pm
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No weegie can count past pure hunners.

Course they can.

“Here, Wullie,  how many arseholes do ye reckon there are in Edinburgh?”

”Pure millions, man. Pure Millions “

 
Posted : 03/05/2024 6:52 pm
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@reeksy - that sort of hail is usually due to a Severe Convective Storm (SCS). They often have 3, sometimes 4, components each of which is scary  in their own right - straight line winds (very strong gusts), hail, tornado and occasionally terrible lightning storms

As you know they are increasing in frequency in AUS but also in the US (think tornado alley) and in Europe too. There have been some very large storms in France in recent years and northern Italy, Germany and Austria too.

Expect more due to climate change

☹️

https://soe.dcceew.gov.au/extreme-events/environment/cyclones-and-storms#hail-and-convective-storms

 
Posted : 03/05/2024 6:59 pm
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Yeah. My wife works with a meteorologist and IPCC author so we're pretty well informed.

This event was a microburst from a larger storm I think. The hail was really localised to a strip of about 300m X 50m as far as I can tell.

 
Posted : 03/05/2024 11:02 pm
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Yep, that's why they are hard to forecast

 
Posted : 03/05/2024 11:05 pm
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like two small boys fighting under a blanket - large hooters

burst mattress, or  terry waites allotment - hairy foofoo

butchers dustbin, er, use your imagination

 
Posted : 04/05/2024 12:07 am
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like two small boys fighting under a blanket – large hooters

Dead heat in a zeppelin race.

Kidnapping Right Said Fred.

 
Posted : 04/05/2024 12:51 am
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Fighter pilots thumbs was always a favourite of mine 😀

 
Posted : 04/05/2024 1:29 am
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Slacker than a pigeons fanciers bag...

For some reason a quote of mine with no sexual innuendo said out side the railway pub in about 2000 with regards to god knows what.

 
Posted : 04/05/2024 1:38 am
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Also see...

More brains than kurt cobains ceiling

That **** has more kids than barnardos

As much use as tits on a fish

He lies like a cheap Persian rug

 
Posted : 04/05/2024 1:41 am
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My favourite unit of measurement:

furlongs per fortnight….

 
Posted : 04/05/2024 1:31 pm
Scapegoat and Scapegoat reacted