Comment by qznc

2 days ago

It is hand to remember a few finger/knuckles/elbow/shoulder combinations for common measures. One of your phalanges should be ~1 inch, for example, and one of your finger nails is probably ~1 cm wide.

There's a reason that the English system of measurement had things like "hand" and "foot" - because when you're not measuring things exactly, close enough and commonly available is fine.

  • Only, I think, a foot is actually a half a cubit (length from elbow to fingertip). So, sort of a misnomer, rounded to the nearest body part.

Or be like the mythbusters guy and get a ruler tattooed on your arm!