You've probably measured things in feet, meters, or even cubits if you're into ancient history. But have you ever measured something in Smoots? Or Danny DeVitos? Welcome to the wonderfully weird world of unofficial measurement units.
The Smoot: MIT's Most Famous Prank
In 1958, MIT fraternity members needed to measure the Harvard Bridge. Rather than use boring standard units, they used their shortest pledge—Oliver Smoot—as a human ruler. They laid him down end-to-end across the entire bridge, marking every 10 Smoots.
The result? The bridge is exactly 364.4 Smoots (plus or minus one ear).
The best part? When the bridge was renovated in the 1980s, the city of Boston insisted the Smoot markings be repainted. Oliver Smoot himself later became chairman of the American National Standards Institute—the organization responsible for measurement standards. You can't make this stuff up.
One Smoot equals 1.70 meters (5 feet 7 inches), which was Oliver's height at the time.
The Banana Scale
Reddit's favorite unit of measurement, the banana, has become the internet's go-to for showing scale in photos. "Banana for scale" is so ubiquitous that it's practically a meme law.
An average banana is about 17.8 cm (7 inches) long, making it surprisingly useful for quick visual comparisons. It's gotten so popular that AllUnits.net now offers banana conversions—because why not?
The Danny DeVito
Speaking of celebrity measurements, the Danny DeVito has emerged as a beloved unit for height comparisons. At 1.47 meters (4'10"), the beloved actor provides a relatable (and entertaining) reference point.
"How tall is that building?"
"About 200 Danny DeVitos."
It's not official, but it should be.
The Shaq: Basketball's Contribution
Shaquille O'Neal stands at an impressive 2.16 meters (7'1"). His height has become shorthand for "really, really tall."
When describing the height of dinosaurs, roller coasters, or basketball hoops, "in Shaq units" provides instant visualization. T-Rex? About 2.5 Shaqs tall.
Football Fields: America's Default
Nothing demonstrates American measurement creativity quite like the football field. News anchors love describing everything from oil spills to solar panel arrays in "football fields."
One American football field (including end zones) is 109.7 meters. It's become so common that it's practically an official unit of American journalism.
Wales: The British Media's Favorite
British newspapers measure everything large in "Wales" or "the size of Wales." Forest fires? "An area the size of Wales is burning." Asteroid? "The size of Wales heading toward Earth."
Wales covers about 20,779 square kilometers (8,023 square miles), making it oddly perfect for describing medium-to-large catastrophes.
Olympic Swimming Pools
When describing large volumes of liquid—whether it's an oil spill or the amount of beer consumed at Oktoberfest—the Olympic swimming pool is the unit of choice.
One Olympic pool holds 2,500 cubic meters (or about 660,000 gallons). It's big enough to be impressive but small enough to visualize.
Why We Love Weird Units
These quirky measurements serve a real purpose: they make abstract numbers relatable. "500 meters" is just a number. "About 3 football fields" creates an instant mental image.
They also add humor to otherwise dry topics. Scientific papers might use metric, but explaining things in bananas or DeVitos makes information accessible and memorable.
Try Converting Them
Curious how tall you are in Smoots? How many bananas is your commute? We've added these fun units to our converter because measurement should be entertaining sometimes.
After all, if the chairman of the American National Standards Institute started as a human ruler, maybe weird units deserve a little more respect.