Two thousand Olympic size swimming pools!

[jymbee]

It seems that ever since "as big as a breadbox" became the default analogy for describing the size of any object even remotely that size, the media falls all over themselves in an attempt to explain just how large, tall, long things are they're reporting on with an analogy as if us mentally challenged viewers were not capable of envisioning actual dimensions, heights, lengths.

Multiple lengths of football fields are a common go-to for lengths. Is simply saying 100 yards or 300 feet all that meaningless? Or with respect to distance they propose to stack whatever nonsensical things they can come up with, stack 'em on top of one another and circle the globe multiple times. Or maybe to the moon and back. Rhode Island and Delaware seem to be favorites to describe large land masses.

I've thought to collect some of the more asinine of these analogies but so far have not gotten around to doing so. But today, I heard one that would have to be near the top of the list. One of the news networks describing the snowfall in California announced that road crews had cleared "over 7 million cubic yards of snow from state highways". Wow, that's a lot of freekin' snow?! But wait, in case you can't get your head around such a volume of snow, they were quick to help our by following up with: That's enough snow to fill "MORE THAN 2,000 OLYMPIC-SIZE SWIMMING POOLS!" Alright! Now I get it!

But what I really want to know is just how many breadboxes would it take to fill one Olympic size swimming pool?!?

 

[Krazeehorse1]

. And to your point when people say a football field that most think of as 100 yards or 300 feet but I visualize 120 yards, the distance between the goal posts.

 

[DutchmenSport]

Answer: It all depends upon how big the bread box is?

BUT, I've got one better for you: How about this:

January 29, 2020 - It takes 6½ years for the average American residence to use the amount of water required to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool (660,000 gallons). That's a lot, so you might want to cut down on your water-wasting habits. California would need enough water to fill 16.7 million Olympic-sized swimming pools to recover from its historic drought, NASA scientists using satellite data estimate.

https://www.liveabout.com/how-big-is-olympic-size-pool-2737098

 

[Krazeehorse33]

Well that was weird. Logged in incorrectly.

 

[msw3113]

117,333 breadboxes per Olympic swimming pool
It's easier for me to envision a swimming pool than 117,333 of anything

 

[Isaac-1]

I have always hated that north eastern US bias in land area comparisons, that most experts agree comes from the fact that most media and publishing companies, particularly text book publishers in the 20th century were based in New York. Comparing things to the size of Rhode Island or the distance between Boston and New York is useless to the average school kid that grew up anywhere west of the Mississippi river.

 

[Larry N.]

t seems that ever since "as big as a breadbox" became the default analogy for describing the size of any object even remotely that size

I don't remember which quiz show that saying came from, but in the '50s there was a show where the panel had to guess what a certain item was, and they routinely asked, "Is it bigger than a bread box?"

Ahh, I just found it on www.grammarphobia.com:

The question “Is it bigger than a breadbox?” was popularized by Steve Allen when he was a panelist on the TV quiz show “What’s My Line.”

 

[Kodiak34SS]

In Minnesota it was the number of lane-miles of plowing and/or chemical treatment of road surfaces. It snowed a metric poop-ton and/or it was freeing-arse cold, aka, another winter in the Midwest.

I do subscribe to “inches of rain” however. I can feel it coming in my bones, and I know how much the gutters can take before they run over, or the wipers need to be run on constant low or high.

 

[RayIN]

I have always hated that north eastern US bias in land area comparisons, that most experts agree comes from the fact that most media and publishing companies, particularly text book publishers in the 20th century were based in New York. Comparing things to the size of Rhode Island or the distance between Boston and New York is useless to the average school kid that grew up anywhere west of the Mississippi river.

Of comparing sizes; how many times will Texas fit into Alaska?
As to the New England states, I remember partying one evening and was in 5 states that night. So I was told next day.

 

[Isaac-1]

Of comparing sizes; how many times will Texas fit into Alaska?
As to the New England states, I remember partying one evening and was in 5 states that night. So I was told next day.

Partying like that does not work so well for people in central Texas.

One other unit of comparative measurement that I never understood the reference to was comparing things to the size of Belgium. Maybe it was seen as a equalizer, comparing things to something 99% of people had no innate feel for or care about.

 

[Wasillaguy]

Asteroid the size of 112 camels to pass Earth Wednesday - NASA​

https://www.jpost.com/science/article-733651

 

[RayIN]

Asteroid the size of 112 camels to pass Earth Wednesday - NASA​

https://www.jpost.com/science/article-733651

 

[jymbee]

Partying like that does not work so well for people in central Texas.

One other unit of comparative measurement that I never understood the reference to was comparing things to the size of Belgium. Maybe it was seen as a equalizer, comparing things to something 99% of people had no innate feel for or care about.

Funny you should bring that up! Many years ago I was traveling from AK to NY with a couple from Belgium. Heading to AK they had traveled through TX and talked about how they couldn't believe, compared to Belgium obviously, how HUGE Texas was.

 

[Geraldsh]

A comedian was explaining how much money Bill Gates has: if he stuffed all his money under his mattress like we do and then fell out of bed in the morning- it would take him 18 minutes to hit the floor.

 

[Mountain high]

In the Northern California logging town of Scotia as a kid I remember being told on a lumber mill tour that the old growth redwood sizes were determined by the number of houses that can be built from a tree. For example, the Dyerville Giant was 370 feet tall and probably weighed a million pounds. The wood from this tree alone could build approximately 30 two-story houses. So that tree could build 30 two-story houses, and that one over there is a 23 two-story houses tree, and over that way that's a 27 two-story houses tree, etc.

I also remember being told that the trees over there which were to be cut that year of 1969 would have their regrowth cut once again 60 years later. The previous forest cut was in 1909. So I've been wondering for 54 years whether or not it would hold true. Now if I can only recall where those trees were cut in 1969. In 2029 I'll no longer care.

 

[RayIN]

In the Northern California logging town of Scotia as a kid I remember being told on a lumber mill tour that the old growth redwood sizes were determined by the number of houses that can be built from a tree. For example, the Dyerville Giant was 370 feet tall and probably weighed a million pounds. The wood from this tree alone could build approximately 30 two-story houses. So that tree could build 30 two-story houses, and that one over there is a 23 two-story houses tree, and over that way that's a 27 two-story houses tree, etc.

I also remember being told that the trees over there which were to be cut that year of 1969 would have their regrowth cut once again 60 years later. The previous forest cut was in 1909. So I've been wondering for 54 years whether or not it would hold true. Now if I can only recall where those trees were cut in 1969. In 2029 I'll no longer care.

A side note to that is. all the exterior wood on my otherwise brick house is redwood, built in 1968. To this day the redwood trim will not hold paint for longer than 5 years without peeling off, but I'm not about to cover it with aluminum.

 

[Mountain high]

A side note to that is. all the exterior wood on my otherwise brick house is redwood, built in 1968. To this day the redwood trim will not hold paint for longer than 5 years without peeling off, but I'm not about to cover it with aluminum.

Wow. The house that I grew up in Burbank, California was built in 1958 and had an exterior entirely made from redwood including the garage door. My father sold it around 2008 after 50 years living at it. Never saw any peeling paint and don't recall it requiring repainting while I lived there growing up. Must have been the lead paint.

 

[Chef Duane]

Of comparing sizes; how many times will Texas fit into Alaska?

About once. Texas is pretty big, but not as big as Alaska.

 

[Chef Duane]

Wow. The house that I grew up in Burbank, California was built in 1958 and had an exterior entirely made from redwood including the garage door. My father sold it around 2008 after 50 years living at it. Never saw any peeling paint and don't recall it requiring repainting while I lived there growing up. Must have been the lead paint.

Our house in Fullerton was stucco. Dad bought in '59 for $10,000. We sold it in '92 for a bazillion dollars.

 

[eightwt]

I’ve worked on ground that was “steeper than a mules nose”.