Many humans are bad at visualizing what measurements really mean unless you give them a comparison . severalize someone a blank space is 360 substructure long and they ’ll probably just blink ; say it ’s the distance of a football game champaign and you might get a nod of comprehension . That ’s why many writer use size of it comparisons rather than accurate measurement in non - technical works . ( It also help convince people your work was n’t written by a robot . ) But the comparisons that writers apply reflect the culture and time period they ’re in — secern an ancient romish something is the size of it of a citation bill of fare or a car , and you ’re not rifle to get very far .
As spottedby Digg , programmer and data point visual image whizColin Morrisrecently performed an experimentation that show how these kinds of object comparison change over time . Morris mined the vastNgram datasetof English - words Google Books for natural event of the phrase " the size of _ _ _ " between 1800 and 2008 , then outrank the top results by popularity overall and in specific centuries . Some of the results made consummate common sense ( England has phased out the shilling ; hoops did n’t exist for most of the 1800s ) , while others were more surprising ( why did we quit referring to cats as a popular size comparison in the twenty-first century ? ) .
Overall , Morris set up that detail from the natural reality have return into decline as reference points , while sports analogies have explode onto the setting . ( Morris inquire whether this has to do with the rise of leisure time , and/or the mass media that exposes far more spectators to sports than ever before . ) Some of the specific results also have intriguing stories to tell : We no longer talk about the sizing of pigeon ’s eggs for the most part thanks to the extermination of the passenger pigeon , which was once themost legion birdin the United States . The number of metropolis pigeons just do n’t compare — when was the last clock time you understand one of their eggs ?
There is one clear victor across the centuries , however : peas . These tiny legumes were the most pop reference point in the 1800s and they remain so today . The same is true of runner - up the walnut tree . rent it not be said we have nothing in vulgar with our antecedent .
Here are the top five items in each one C that Morris enquire :
1800s
1 . pea2 . walnut3 . pinhead4 . egg5 . hen ’s eggs
1900s
1 . pea2 . walnut3 . pinhead4 . egg5 . orange
2000 - 2008
1 . pea2 . walnut3 . quarter4 . football game field5 . egg
For the full list , headway over toColin Morris ’s site .
[ h / tDigg ]
