Metric Time

[Condottiere]

Nine to Five - Three thirty five to Two oh eight.

 

[Grav_Moped]

Twenty-five or six to four.

(0334-0335 hrs. local time.)

 

[Condottiere]

What is a 2x4 called in Europe?

A 2x4″ timber (“stud”) in the US is the original dimension before planing — when sold, it is 1/4″ less on each side, making it 1–1/2″ x 3–1/2″. In metric countries, this is sold as a 38 mm x 89 mm timber, literally the same dimension (to the nearest mm).


Imperial expansion.

 

[mike wightman]

In the UK it is still called a two by four...

 

[FreeTrav]

It wouldn't surprise me if something of roughly the same dimensions persisted for longer than the "Customary Units" system is remembered, and a structural member of 40mm by 90mm ends up being called a 'tubaifor', for reasons lost to history.

 

[whartung]

this is sold as a 38 mm x 89 mm timber, literally the same dimension (to the nearest mm).

Boy that just rolls off the tounge.

Do they call them that, or do they just call them 2x4s?

 

[Kakistocrat]

It wouldn’t surprise me if something of roughly the same dimensions persisted for longer than the “Customary Units” system is remembered, and a structural member of 40mm by 90mm ends up being called a ‘tubaifor’, for reasons lost to history.

Over time, the second vowel would probably wear down to “tubaphore”, and future etymologists might conclude that it originally referred to a case (of that width and length) for a particular type of tube.

I wonder if there is currently any language that uses a SI unit in an idiomatic expression? Russian, for example, despite its now-universal use of SI units, still uses its own customary units in such expressions, e.g. на аршин борода, да ума на пядь (“an arshin [28 inches/71.12 cm] of beard, but of mind a pyadʹ [7 inches/17.78 cm]”), to refer to a grown man who doesn’t act his age).

 

[Kakistocrat]

Boy that just rolls off the tongue.

Do they call them that, or do they just call them 2×4s?

It might depend upon the particular “they”. For example, this German site specifies its lumber products in all three dimensions, e.g. 40 mm × 60 mm × 2500 mm.

 

[BlackBat242]

What is a 2x4 called in Europe?

A 2x4″ timber (“stud”) in the US is the original dimension before planing — when sold, it is 1/4″ less on each side, making it 1–1/2″ x 3–1/2″. In metric countries, this is sold as a 38 mm x 89 mm timber, literally the same dimension (to the nearest mm).


Imperial expansion.

Boy that just rolls off the tounge.

Do they call them that, or do they just call them 2x4s?

I would just refer to them as a "4x9" (centimeters).