Playboy After Hours
September, 1961
Has it occurred to you – as it has, now and then, to us – that the so-called "standard" measurements, if taken at their literal and original meanings, are completely arbitrary, vague, whimsical and otherwise undependable? Maybe we'd better give instances. "How deep is the ocean?" (for one instance) is a question usually answered in fathoms. But how deep is a fathom? The word comes from the Anglo-Saxon faethm, or "the embracing arms," and has actually been defined by...
