Naturally, I was excited to hear the latest news from Brooklyn, but, alas, he was calling in regard to my last post 16 Tons and What Do You Get? which caused him great mathematical consternation.
Evidently, in the world of tonnage, there is a short ton and a long ton. My mere 1,000 pounds of rocks that I loaded and then unloaded, although adding up to 2,000 pounds, didn’t warrant the accolades I felt I deserved since this measly amount equaled only a short ton, which is shy of a long ton by 240 pounds. Never having heard of a long ton, I turned to my research buddy, Google. My favorite of all my children was right.
British ton is the long ton, which is 2240 pounds, and the U.S. ton is the short ton which is 2000 pounds.
Both tons are actually defined in the same way. 1 ton is equal to 20 hundredweight. It is just the definition of the hundredweight that differs between countries. In the U.S. there are 100 pounds in the hundredweight, and in Britain there are 112 pounds in the hundredweight. This causes the actual weight of the ton to differ between countries.
To distinguish between the two tons, the smaller U.S. ton is called short, while the larger British ton is called long.
This information led to a rather comical and heated debate over who had worked the hardest of late…me, at my advanced age, and with the photos to prove my hard work, or Nate, who bemoaned the fact that single-handed, he added with great emphasis, moved two long tons (for you math challenged readers, that totals 4,480 pounds) of fine cheese and cured meats last week. And to top it off, he had to carry it down a flight of stairs. Lacking photos as proof of his hard work, I felt I had the upper hand, but just to be sure, I once again reminded him of the difference in our ages, the fact that he was getting paid an exorbitant amount of money, then to seal the deal, turned to the damage done to my hands. The words, “I’ve damaged my tendon in my ring finger,” hadn’t hung in the air long enough to dry, when it happened. My favorite of all my children (who was beginning the slide from first to second place rather quickly) topped that with the effects of the molds on all these highfalutin products on his hands. All of a sudden we were comparing wounds, damaged hand tendons, and various mold maladies, until we sounded like Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw in Jaws comparing their shark scarred bodies.
Here are my thoughts on the subject of short ton (American) versus long ton (British): 1) We left British rule for various reasons, but here’s a good one: They call 112 pounds a hundredweight; and 2) every woman will understand when I say, I’d rather weigh a short ton than a long ton.
P.S. I found out my favorite doesn’t know everything about tonnage. My research led me to find there is also a third type of ton called the metric ton equal to 1000 kilograms, or approximately 2204 pounds. The metric ton is officially called tonne. The SI standard calls it tonne, but the U.S. Government recommends calling it metric ton.
Isn’t it just like a mother to want the last word?!
Then again, if we were sticking with British rule, you’d be weighed in stones, not tons. According to metric-conversions.org: A stone is a unit of weight equal to 14 pounds.
So that would mean you moved almost 143 stones of stones.
I wonder what that is in cheese?
Thanks for the stone info, Tess. I wonder how many more units of measurement are out there to be considered? (Besides the cheese.)
Love the picture…And, for god’s sake, he should have known who he was taking on.
Kath – You’d think he’d know by now, but evidently there was a lapse in better judgment. Love that boy.
Hmmm, not surprised the British say a hundredweight is 112 pounds (so why do they STILL call it a “hundred” weight?!?!). But then we (the USofA) still use the “English” system of measurement, along with Myanmar (Burma) and Liberia, which even the English have the good sense to no longer use…. hmmmm (again)
DZ, let me make it simple…heavy is heavy no matter what weight measurement system you use, yes?