3 ms·

Firstly I don't think gp meant it literally, but conversationally as in: the definition decomposes to foot x chain x furlong. Acres can be any shape, but gp is

by rendaw 2y ago

Firstly I don't think gp meant it literally, but conversationally as in: the definition decomposes to foot x chain x furlong. Acres can be any shape, but gp is correct that acres were originally defined as chain x furlong (per wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furlong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furlong ). They're also correct that it's a weird combination of disparate sizes which doesn't lend itself to visualization.

db48x 2y ago
On the one hand I would argue that you’re not supposed to visualize your lake as a bunch of rectangles. Visualize your lake as the shape the lake actually is. On the other hand, for many people it’s easier to visualize than you might imagine. As you may know, virtually the entire US was surveyed and divided up into one mile × one mile sections. A square mile is exactly 640 acres. At one time a homesteader could buy that square mile and move west. Over time the minimum size of a homestead was halved and halved again until it was 160 acres, or one quarter of a square mile, around the time of the Civil War. These were often quartered again into 40 acre fields. A farmer and his family could expect to work two or three of those fields every year, rotating which one was fallow if they were smart. They are ¼ of a mile on a side. You can zoom in on almost any random part of the US and find those squares everywhere. Farmland is all gridded with roads along the 1 mile section boundaries, and cities are a jumble. But in between the suburbs are made up of the smaller divisions. It is very common for a 40–acre field to be divided up into 13 lots of ~3 acres each. It is super common to find whole areas of 10–acre lots made by quartering those fields. And it is also not surprising to find a 10–acre lot that has been divided up into 1 acre lots that are all 66ft×660ft. Here, as an example I [zoomed into a randomly–chosen point in the midwest](https://www.google.com/maps/@39.6540747,-86.0094355,1456m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDEyOS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D https://www.google.com/maps/@39.6540747,-86.0094355,1456m/da...). If you measure E McGregor Rd along the northern edge of the map you’ll find that it’s 1 mile long until it hits that jog. You can immediately see that this section was subdivided into four 160–acre farms, and some of those were subdivided into 40–acre fields. Knapp Rd runs north–south and divides the section in half. To the east is an older area of mostly 2, 3, and 5–acre lots. On the western side a developer has bought up 90 acres (two 40–acre fields connected by a 10–acre lot) and turned it into a very modern subdivision of houses each built on (approximately) half–acre lots. For many Americans, visualizing an acre is easy; it’s half the size of the land their house was built on, or their lot plus their neighbor’s lot, or some other similar amount.
- runarberg 2y ago
  Like I said, it is one of the funnier American units out there. I’m not arguing against it being useful in an American context (no doubt it is), but this connection with the mile markers, a common field size dived into 13 lots, and flooding of your fields by a foot of water, it only makes this unit even funnier.

by rendaw 2y ago

db48x 2y ago

On the one hand I would argue that you’re not supposed to visualize your lake as a bunch of rectangles. Visualize your lake as the shape the lake actually is. On the other hand, for many people it’s easier to visualize than you might imagine. As you may know, virtually the entire US was surveyed and divided up into one mile × one mile sections. A square mile is exactly 640 acres. At one time a homesteader could buy that square mile and move west. Over time the minimum size of a homestead was halved and halved again until it was 160 acres, or one quarter of a square mile, around the time of the Civil War. These were often quartered again into 40 acre fields. A farmer and his family could expect to work two or three of those fields every year, rotating which one was fallow if they were smart. They are ¼ of a mile on a side. You can zoom in on almost any random part of the US and find those squares everywhere. Farmland is all gridded with roads along the 1 mile section boundaries, and cities are a jumble. But in between the suburbs are made up of the smaller divisions. It is very common for a 40–acre field to be divided up into 13 lots of ~3 acres each. It is super common to find whole areas of 10–acre lots made by quartering those fields. And it is also not surprising to find a 10–acre lot that has been divided up into 1 acre lots that are all 66ft×660ft. Here, as an example I [zoomed into a randomly–chosen point in the midwest](https://www.google.com/maps/@39.6540747,-86.0094355,1456m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDEyOS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D https://www.google.com/maps/@39.6540747,-86.0094355,1456m/da...). If you measure E McGregor Rd along the northern edge of the map you’ll find that it’s 1 mile long until it hits that jog. You can immediately see that this section was subdivided into four 160–acre farms, and some of those were subdivided into 40–acre fields. Knapp Rd runs north–south and divides the section in half. To the east is an older area of mostly 2, 3, and 5–acre lots. On the western side a developer has bought up 90 acres (two 40–acre fields connected by a 10–acre lot) and turned it into a very modern subdivision of houses each built on (approximately) half–acre lots. For many Americans, visualizing an acre is easy; it’s half the size of the land their house was built on, or their lot plus their neighbor’s lot, or some other similar amount.

runarberg 2y ago
Like I said, it is one of the funnier American units out there. I’m not arguing against it being useful in an American context (no doubt it is), but this connection with the mile markers, a common field size dived into 13 lots, and flooding of your fields by a foot of water, it only makes this unit even funnier.