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Length/Distance | Convert from city block [East U.S.] to barleycorn |
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Common Length Conversions Metric Length Conversions Unit Definition (city block [East U.S.]) The city block is an informal unit of distance popular in the U.S. A block is the average distance between street intersections in the rectangular street grids common in most American cities. The length of a block varies from about 1/20 mile (80 meters) in New York to about 1/16 mile (100 meters) in many midwestern cities to about 1/10 mile (160 meters) in cities of the South and West. (In New York and some other cities, streets running on one direction are closer together than streets running perpendicular. In these cities, people often speak of "short blocks" or "long blocks.") Unit Definition (barleycorn) The Barleycorn is an old English unit of length. The custom of using seeds as units of length or weight is very common in farming societies. In Anglo-Saxon England, where barley was a basic crop, barleycorns played this traditional role. The weight of a barleycorn, later renamed the grain, is the original basis of all English weight systems including the older troy system and the later avoirdupois system. As a length unit, 3 barleycorns were equal to the Saxon ynce (inch). The English foot was actually defined as 12 of these ynces, that is, as 36 barleycorns.
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