How far did you throw? How long till we go? 

How big is the box? How deep is the snow?

How full is the jug? How much does that weigh?

How many do you have? How tall, would you say? 

How spicy is that pepper? How much salt should we add?

How much time before dinner? How old is that lad? 

Units of measurement have changed over time. Today we calculate distance with feet. In ancient history, it was measured in cubits. We tell time by minutes. In medieval times, it was measured by moments. We count days. Our ancestors counted fortnights. Cooks measure ingredients with teaspoons. Seasoned chefs use smidgens. 

Etymology is the study of the history of words. It tells us where fun units of measurement came from. Find a new favorite unit and use it! See if you can stump a friend.

Baker’s Dozen: Thirteen loaves of bread for the price of twelve? This tradition started in the 13th century. A medieval English law said a baker’s hand could be chopped off with an ax if a customer was cheated. Yikes! Better throw an extra free loaf in that order just to be on the safe side! 

Big Mac Index: McDonald’s Big Macs measure too. They help compare the value of money. Big Macs are sold in about 120 countries. The price of the burgers should be about the same in each country. The Big Mac Index shows whether a country’s money is overvalued or undervalued. 

Beard-second: This is a very short unit of length. Its name comes from the length an average beard grows in one second. 

Blink: A blink is a unit that measures time. It is 0.864 seconds. That’s actually twice the speed at which an eye blinks. 

Cubit: This is the distance between a man’s middle finger and his elbow. If you use a ruler to measure a cubit, it would equal about 18 inches. Cubits are a biblical unit of measurement. 

Fortnight: This 12th-century word means two weeks, or 14 days. 

Googol: An eight-year-old was asked what he would name a really, really, really large number. His answer? A “googol.” This number is 1 followed by 100 zeroes. 

Jiffy: This is a unit that measures time. It means very, very fast. It is 0.01 second. Faster than a blink? Yes! 

New York Second: This is a short unit of time. Its name comes from the period of time between a New York traffic light turning green and the cab behind it honking. In other words, it is nearly instantaneous!