Ocean State Measuring Shtick
October 26, 2007 on 2:13 pm | In Main, Oddball |
OK, it was bound to happen. In a news story about the California wildfires, the LAT described the affected area as “roughly two-thirds the size of Rhode Island.” Why is it the only time the Ocean State makes news is when Buddy Cianci gets thrown in jail (again) or when journalists grope to find a yardstick? For a handy list of examples, click here.
Go to Google and type in “the size of rhode island” (all in quotes) and you will be treated to a smorgasbord of other examples of this phenomenon. The area of the 2003 California wildfires was described as “as about the size of Rhode Island.” CNN described a 1999 iceberg, called B-10A, as being “about 24 miles wide and 48 miles long — roughly the size of Rhode Island.” What would happen if a wildfire consumed the entire Ocean State? How would we describe the affected area?
Why don’t we just drop the informality of it all and make Rhode Island an official unit of measure? In enlightened Europe, which would surely turn up its nose at such a distinctly American solution, Continentals could use The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, which is the size of Rhode Island with roughly the population of Wyoming (home of Dick Cheney; but hey, what the Euros don’t know won’t hurt them).
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“The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, which is the size of Rhode Island”
That didn’t seem right to me, so I checked it out. You are right. They are similar in size. Lux is a bit smaller, but it seems a lot smaller when you are there. It must be because so much of Rhode Island is water. Lux, on the other hand, seems more like the size of a large American county. A rather boring one. That said, there are a couple of good restaurants in town.
Comment by Jake — October 26, 2007 #
Making RI an official unit of measurement’s a great idea. Any ideas on what to call it? RI has become like ” bread basket. ” Remember that guessing game in which one asks, ” Is it bigger than a bread basket? ”
And I, like you, do not hate the Yankees. Even though I’m a long time Sox fan.
Comment by Terrence McCarthy — October 26, 2007 #
Jake,
Of course it depends on which county you’re talking about. San Bernardino County, for example, is considerably bigger than the sum total of the three states of southern New England.
The country I really want to visit is the principality of Andorra, which (I am told) is about 180 square miles compared to San Bernardino County’s 20,000 or so. Now that’s my kind of country! You can walk around most if it in a day or two.
Terry2,
I was wondering when you were going weigh in since you are an Ocean Stater. But rumor has it you are moving to South Carolina just to vote for Stephen Colbert.
Comment by Terry — October 26, 2007 #
Wow, we lose a Rhode Island of tropical rainforest every week!
And five Rhode Islands make a Connecticut (more or less).
Comment by Tim Abbott — October 26, 2007 #
or they could throw a curve-ball and just make rhode island part of connecticut. then how would they measure large amounts of land?
Comment by fred — October 30, 2007 #