16 lines
2.6 KiB
HTML
16 lines
2.6 KiB
HTML
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>smoot</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../S.html" title="S"/><link rel="previous" href="smoking-clover.html" title="smoking clover"/><link rel="next" href="SMOP.html" title="SMOP"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">smoot</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="smoking-clover.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><th width="60%" align="center">S</th><td width="20%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="SMOP.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="smoot"/><dt xmlns="" id="smoot"><b>smoot</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="pronunciation">/smoot/</span>, <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [MIT] A unit of length equal five feet seven inches. The length of
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the Harvard Bridge in Boston is famously 364.4 smoots plus an ear (the ear
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is allegedly the width of the earhole in the side of the football helmet
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the victim was wearing when he was rolled over the bridge). This legend
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began with a fraternity prank in 1958 during which the body length of
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Oliver Smoot (class of '62) was actually used to measure out that distance.
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It is commemorated by smoot marks that MIT students repaint every few
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years; the tradition even survived the demolition and rebuilding of the
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bridge in the late 1980s. The Boston police have been known to use smoot
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markers to indicate accident locations on the bridge. Apparently Smoot's
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experience as a unit of measurement led to a life-long career; he
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eventually became Chairman of the Board of the American National Standards
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Institute, and later President of the International Organization for
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Standardization.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="smoking-clover.html">Prev</a><EFBFBD></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../S.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"><EFBFBD><a accesskey="n" href="SMOP.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">smoking clover<65></td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"><EFBFBD>SMOP</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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