Talk:Rod (length)
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Y'know... if it's more commonly known as a rod or a perch, why is the article title pole?
- I was wondering the same thing. And that characterization is absolutely correct, not a misstatement of fact in this article. Gene Nygaard 21:00, 28 Jan 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Picture?
What does that picture have to do with the rod? Anyone know? Anyone feel like they are confident enough to take it down? JesseRafe 03:35, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
- I'm not sure, but I think the bar on the sign might measure one rod. It doesn't seem immediately relevant, though. Vashti 18:19, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
- I'm not sure even, it's plausible that "Ruthe" could mean "Rod," but then that sign would only mean "One Prussian Half Rod"... and who cares what a Prussian Rod is, wouldn't all countries have different local measures back in the day? I think it should be deleted. JesseRafe 04:30, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
- Well, imperial measurements were all different wherever you went, but this article ought to be (and is, IIRC) about everywhere's rod. If we could establish the significance of the sign it might be a nice illustration of the concept. Any fluent German speakers out there who could ask the German Wikipedia for help (or even help, but that might be a bit optimistic for something this obscure) Vashti 07:41, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
- The only word there I don't know is "Ruthe", which granted regular sound changes is very likely to be "Rod". In anycase, if it is a rod, "halbe" definitely means "half," so I'm going to amend the caption, but I still don't think that the picture is the best. JesseRafe 21:12, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
- Well, imperial measurements were all different wherever you went, but this article ought to be (and is, IIRC) about everywhere's rod. If we could establish the significance of the sign it might be a nice illustration of the concept. Any fluent German speakers out there who could ask the German Wikipedia for help (or even help, but that might be a bit optimistic for something this obscure) Vashti 07:41, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
- I'm not sure even, it's plausible that "Ruthe" could mean "Rod," but then that sign would only mean "One Prussian Half Rod"... and who cares what a Prussian Rod is, wouldn't all countries have different local measures back in the day? I think it should be deleted. JesseRafe 04:30, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
Having a common Germanic origin rod and Rute (Ruthe is the pre-1901 spelling) are in fact the same, in regards to language as well as measurement. (You could have found out yourself by looking at the German interwiki link.) It’s the same way for fathom and Faden for example. If someone found an English rod measure inscribed on some church or other building and photographed it, we might as well use that picture of course—just to show that this was done, especially close to market places. See mile for a less English-centric article on a measure, although it is by no means complete. Christoph Päper 13:21, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] A perch was not necessarily a rod
Seems the value of a perch varied from 18-24' in the 1300's, and even in 1820, was between 16.5 and 25'. See the talk page at perch (area). I feel it would serve better to move the perch length info to a unified perch page that encompasses both length and area definitions, reflecting at least 600 years of use, and perhaps even explaining how one got to include the other, with a link here to what the length aspect became settled as recently. Any thoughts from on high? If none, I'll go ahead and attempt to do so (stretching my noob Wiki-skills). Andy N. (talk) 17:47, 5 March 2008 (UTC)
