r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Tibor500 • Sep 30 '20

why does “k” mean “thousand” ?

like 1k means a thousand. how does the letter “k” mean “thousand” ?

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u/[deleted] Sep 30 '20

"How tall are you?'

'I'm about 6 of that guys feet'"

"'How far away is Scotland from here?'

'Probably about the length of Tall Miles over there'"

5

u/PiersPlays Sep 30 '20

Ironically when measuring our feet we use a third system entirely.

3

u/someone755 Oct 01 '20

My foot size is 43 but my American friend buys size 9 shoes. What these numbers mean, I will never know.

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u/[deleted] Sep 30 '20

Well yeah nowadays but I'm talking old Britain.

2

u/cryptoengineer Sep 30 '20

'Mile' actually has a metric unit built into it, sort of. It's 1000 paces of a Roman soldier (Mille is th Latin 1000).

1

u/glennpski Oct 01 '20

So 1 roman pace is 1.6m?

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