Well, in English, you’re already on dodgy ground after "twice". Thrice is rather archaic. It would be nice if we, like the sensible Germans, had a suffix that would do the job. Unfortunately, I believe we’re stuck with "x times".
Nothing, I’m afraid. These three are the only words of their type, and no further terms in the series have ever existed (the suggestion of `quince’ for `five times’ is picturesque but no more!). Presumably the language has not felt the lack of them.
I’ve certainly felt the lack of them, and maintain thrice as often as I am able.
On a related note, I’ve observed that the numbers first, second and third have unique forms different from fourth and all the next ones that end -th. At least until 21 when you start to cycle -st, -nd, -rd, -th etc. It is not important but I thought it curious.
Yes. Not to mention all the lovely slang words that have all but disappeared:
tanner - 6d
bob - 1s
half a crown - 2s 6d
half guinea - 10s 6d
guinea - 21s
At least "quid" is still around, as are "fiver" and "tenner".
Call me a Luddite, but I much prefered the quaint old monetary system to the boring rationality of the decimal.
... and the verb inching to describe a cautious or measured movement, say of a tool on a lathe. Surely that still exists: can you imagine millimetreing?
[quote author=brynbaker link=board=what;num=1047492177;start=0#7 date=03/17/03 at 11:01:57]... and the verb inching to describe a cautious or measured movement, say of a tool on a lathe. Surely that still exists: can you imagine millimetreing?
We measured distances in miles and chains in "old money" and so we’d talk about "chainage" to describe a location. That didn’t sound quite right in South East Asia as "meterage".
I thought my money was pretty old, but I’ve never come across chainage. We did chains at school of course; the length of a cricket pitch, 22 yards, a nice decimal fraction of a furlong. Very practical, can’t fathom why it was dropped.
ROD — On the American prairie where fences were constructed of posts and wire, farmers would place fence posts a rod (16.5 feet) apart. In addition to being about the right distance to support a wire fence, this helped them quickly estimate the number of posts needed (80 rods is a quarter mile). It also was useful when plowing a field. By spacing posts a rod apart, the farmer had permanent markers to use when setting up lands. Farmers took great pride in being able to plow a straight furrow. If the field was level, the farmer could use the post on the far side of the field to site to when breaking out a new land.
Fence posts are still commonly spaced a rod apart and barbed wire still comes in 80 rod spools.
CHAIN — Another unit used in land measure is the chain. A chain is equal to four rods or 66 feet. Modern surveyor’s chains are not made of chain but are actually a flexible steel tape that can be wound on a spool. Chain measures are stamped with a die or marked with a brass tag every rod and every 1/10 of a chain, with the final section marked at 1/100 chain increments.
A standard acre was one chain (66 feet) wide by ten chains (660 feet) long, or ten square chains.
Chainage is a term commonly used in surveying. For most useful purposes, it means "distance".
When I were a lad, chains were chains. It was made up of 100 links and had handles at each end with which to hold it. If you wanted to be particulalry fussy (accurate) you had to insert a spring ballance to that you could get the right tension so that the sag was right and the horizontal measure was right.
When measuring distances, a pair of us walk the job, the leading man would put a peg in the ground and the following man would walk up to it and hold the chain for the leading man to put in another peg. The follower would then pick up the peg and at the end of the walk would count his pegs - each peg represented a chain in distance.
So what comes next? Twice twice and thrice, twice twice and twice, twice twice and thrice, quince twice? I prefer the system we already have, thanks (twice). :)
