A Conversation for Rulers
Isn't it called a 'rule'?
Sho - employed again! Started conversation Oct 15, 2001
Back in the mists of time when I was a schoolgirl, we were rapped smartly accross the knuckles with one of these offending objects whenever we referred to it as a ruler. This punishment was usually accompanied by the English teacher shouting "It's a RULE! Queen Elizabeth is a rulER!"
Plus. I thought they had a general length of 30cms?
Isn't it called a 'rule'?
Sho - employed again! Posted Oct 15, 2001
Sorry to be picky, but also it might have been nice to mention their uses in art (using and scraping the edges in paint etc)
And furthermore, a description of why they have a ... ah what is the term... don't know... anyway, why one side is flat and the other is sort of cambered, so that lines can be drawn with fountain or other ink pens without smudging the line.
Isn't it called a 'rule'?
Munchkin Posted Oct 15, 2001
Well we always called them rulers. Or occasionally straight edges, but that was more a technical drawing term. This was in the West of Scotland, perhaps it changes with area. Hmmmm.
Isn't it called a 'rule'?
Sho - employed again! Posted Oct 15, 2001
Oh, I just remembered the awful joke about the man's( hmmm can we say Penis here?) being 6 inches long and him saying as the punchline "but I don't use it as a rule"
Maybe my English teacher was just building us up to that.
Isn't it called a 'rule'?
Bagpuss Posted Oct 15, 2001
Well, we always called it a ruler as well, but the massive ones the teachers used (occasionally) were known as "metre rules". These were useful for impromptu games of indoor cricket.
Isn't it called a 'rule'?
PaulBateman Posted Oct 16, 2001
Aren't the triangular ones called 'set squares' and the semi-circular ones called 'potractors' (I can't remember how it's spelt)? What about slide rules? (And I'm not taking about what children say when asked what their favourite playground attraction is .) Metal rulers are only accurate at measuring at a specific temperature. Didn't Napoleon have one made of platinum (?) that has to be kept at a specific temperature and is the standard metre length that metric refers to?
You can also pretend to play a guitar with a ruler. Or have two and have drum sticks (no, not the K*C variety).
Isn't it called a 'rule'?
Pete, never to have a time-specific nick again (Keeper of Disambiguating Semicolons) - Born in the Year of the Lab Rat Posted Oct 16, 2001
It's 'protractor'. What exactly it protracts is beyond me.
Isn't it called a 'rule'?
Sho - employed again! Posted Oct 16, 2001
Yes, set squares. And don't forget T-squares used by all sorts of technical drawing thingy people. Much more satisfactory as guitars than a mere 12" rule(r).
Isn't it called a 'rule'?
Sneijder Posted Jan 25, 2003
If you look at a ruler, the measurements start slightly away from the corner.
If you look at a rule, (usually metal), the measurements start right at the end. As a rule.
S
Isn't it called a 'rule'?
Sho - employed again! Posted Jan 25, 2003
thank you.
this has been bugging me for sometime... lurking at the back of my mind every time I pick up one of those long, flat, measuring thingies.
Isn't it called a 'rule'?
craigfreakmoore Posted Jan 8, 2004
Sneijder is right. Being an engineer myself i have no end of fun with people asking for rulers.
Person: "Can I have a ruler ?"
Me: "There is only one ruler and thats the queen !"
Person: "Okay you git can I have a rule ?"
Me: "Yeah, Don't run with sissors !"
Rulers are used for drawing, art, writting etc. Rules are used by engineers and start with the marking at one end, no space, this allows us to use them for depth gauge measuring, and for measuring from a face where a ruler would add the length of that little gap at the end.
Key: Complain about this post
Isn't it called a 'rule'?
- 1: Sho - employed again! (Oct 15, 2001)
- 2: Sho - employed again! (Oct 15, 2001)
- 3: Munchkin (Oct 15, 2001)
- 4: Sho - employed again! (Oct 15, 2001)
- 5: Munchkin (Oct 15, 2001)
- 6: Bagpuss (Oct 15, 2001)
- 7: PaulBateman (Oct 16, 2001)
- 8: Pete, never to have a time-specific nick again (Keeper of Disambiguating Semicolons) - Born in the Year of the Lab Rat (Oct 16, 2001)
- 9: Sho - employed again! (Oct 16, 2001)
- 10: Sneijder (Jan 25, 2003)
- 11: Sho - employed again! (Jan 25, 2003)
- 12: craigfreakmoore (Jan 8, 2004)
- 13: Sho - employed again! (Jan 8, 2004)
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