dimensions in Potterverse

[Sandra Collins]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Phil Vlasak" 
<phil at p...> wrote:
> Hi folks,
> I have been trying to find how dimensions are described in the 
Potterverse. In my American edition it reads:
> Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle 
--twelve feet--twenty feet.
> Phil

This is one of those sense-defying quirks we have to live with in 
Britain. Any measurements to denote distance in a formal way 
(eg road signs, or signs put up by councils) have to be in miles 
or yards and feet. If they're not, we can make a complaint and 
they have to be changed by law. And cars have to measure 
distance in miles, and even though speedometer dials show 
mph and kmh, the mph has to be the dominant one.
However, the idiots on tv and in the media only speak in metric 
terms for some barmy reason, so I always get confused when 
they talk about places being so-many-km from wherever. I don't 
have a feel for how far km are, or even metres for that matter, so 
when they talk about anything being so-many-metres high, or 
so-many-metres away, I get annoyed and have to put the kettle 
on! I just wish they could sort out what units we're supposed to 
be using in this country. Make it one or the other, but stop turning 
my brain upside down. And when they speak about how tall 
people are, in metres and cm, it means nothing to me. Why can't 
they do what the weather forecasters do so easily - they mention 
celsius and fahrenheit usually in the same breath, depending 
who's doing it. There, I've had my rant and I feel much better for it.

Sandra (with a cup of tea now)