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Just out of curiosity and for my own information...How do you ladies use your rulers to measure things?
My husband and I were working on a project and he asked me to give him the measurements to the length of said item and I blurted out "15 and 6 dots." And he just stopped and looked at me like I had two heads and asked, "What the heck does that even mean?" To which I explained "It's 6 dots past the 15 on the ruler." He just shook his head, took the ruler, and measured it himself. Now to clarify I have awful eyesight and it takes to long to figure out if the little marks are 1/16ths, 1/8ths, 1/4 or 1/2. But on the other hand if I look at something I can tell in a split second if it is crooked or not evenly spaced (and I'm correct 99% of the time to the nearest dot.)
So my question is...Is this an Anna Lee quirk or do other people use the ruler the same way?
P.S. Don't even get me started on how I divide, add or subtract measurements using the dot system. It's not pretty but it works.
Anna Lee
I myself have to use reading glasses to read my ruler, but I do use the 1/8th, 1/16th etc measurements.
I also have a "good eye" for telling if something is lined up straight, and equal all around, so I usually don't measure when assembling my cards, only when cutting the layers.
I think everyone's brain works a little differently, especially when it comes to stuff like this.
I have a niece who is 40 years old, has lived in our town all her life, and does not know North, South, East and West to this day. She can only tell you if something is left or right of where she is.
I'm always trying to give her directions, and say well, it's just to the West of the intersection. She always says, is that left or right? Drives me crazy, but she just can't seem to get it into her head about North, South, East and West.
Some people are good about directions in real life, but have trouble reading a map.
Like I said, what's important is what works for you.
__________________ Bugga in OK
"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." Dalai Lama
That's hilarious! Since my husband and I both have jobs that require frequent (and precise) measuring, we both use the actual increments (1/8", 3/16", etc.). However, he insists on calling a measuring tape a "ruler" - beats me where that one came from. I thought a ruler was the 12" to 18" long stick thingy, and if it rolls up, it's a tape. Go figure...
I agree with Bugga, though - whatever works for you is what you should do!
Thanks for replying Bugga;
I'm directionally challenged as well. When we go on vacation my only job is to be on the lookout for clean bathrooms because the map is a total mystery to me. When I
went to my first kickboxing class I took a pen and made a little R and L on the correct hand because I didn't want to make a mistake during class and be embarrassed. Sometimes I wonder how I even got out of bed this morning or made it to the age of
50.
Anna Lee
Sue; My dot system is pretty precise ( as long as I don't mistake a pencil mark on the ruler for a dot.) The problem sometimes comes when I have to convert measurements.
Like 3 and 6 dots is the same thing as 2 dots before the 4. Okay, what started out sounding normal to me is now starting to sound a little nutty.
Anna Lee
I am right there with you! I say "Two and a half plus 2" or "Four and a half less 1" and it works great for me! Anna Lee, you have just made my day! I thought I was the only one. I will also admit that I don't know North South East West either and here in Utah, everything is on a "grid" system...my kids make fun of me "Mom all the streets have a number and a direction, how could you NOT know where things are???" And they remind me of when we first moved here, the pharmacist asked our address and I smiled and said "56 North 300 South" and he said "Noooo....try again"
__________________ "For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack" ~Rudyard Kipling my gallery
LOL at all of this! Most of the time, I don't use rulers or tape measures. I cut the paper pieces to size, and then use the cut pieces to cut mats for them, the same width all around. For sewing projects, I hold the fabric up to the actual thing, and pin (this is how I hemmed two curtains. For another curtain project that needed rivets, I riveted the first hole, and then went back to the location and marked the location of the second hole with my thumb and finger, and riveted in that exact spot, then went back for the location of the third hole, etc.
The only thing I consistently use a tape measure for is to measure my growing belly (due to fat, not a baby). Very, very sad.
I have never heard of anyone reading measurements by "dots!" I always was good with judging small distances and after 10+ years as a technical illustrator, that skill became even more finely tuned. I describe things in eighths, sixteenths or millimeters often.
Maybe that has helped but I do have a tendency to eyeball most things with cardmaking, unless I'm making something that requires instructions to be reproduced and then I need accurate dimensions. Also, I used to put a little pencil mark and eyeball, but now I often use Perfect Layers -- I may know I want a 1/8" or 1/16" mat, I don't actually measure it out myself.
Compass directions are pretty natural for me, too - but in a strange area on a cloudy day, I wouldn't rely on it entirely. Anyone can be fooled by Nature!
It sounds like you manage fine with the dot system - but my reaction would have been along the lines of ... "What dots?"
It's so much easier to use metric as it is either a centimetre or increments of I up to the next 10. No messing around with 1/4 or 1/8 or 1/16" measurements.
I have a niece who is 40 years old, has lived in our town all her life, and does not know North, South, East and West to this day. She can only tell you if something is left or right of where she is.
Bugga- I am like that too. I am dyslexic. I kid you not I remember North & South as Up & Down. East & West as Side to Side. For me it seems East is Left & West is right. Works for me. Nobody has gotten lost yet.
AnnaLee- I love your dot to dot! That is the best! You made me smile. It took me forever to learn the ruler. Another dyslexic thing. My DH taught me. We have known each other since we were kids so this is not recent that I learned how to use a ruler. I am so proud that I can read one that I do use the 1/8 & 1/16.
I do have a high IQ. ;) Math is a nightmare for me. I have my dots too.
When I was younger we were taught metric in school, but I have since forgotten everything I was ever taught. Last week I had come across a web site that was supposed to tell you what age you are fit wise. So being I'm a sucker for these kinds of things I filled out all of the questions like weight, height, activity level and so forth. The last question was, "In Centimeters what is the circumference of your waist?' Okay I got this one ...I just knew there were 10 centimeters in an inch, so I entered 320...my fit age came back at 73!!!!What a way to ruin a morning. I'm only 50 and in pretty good shape. Later I found out there are only 4 centimeters in an inch.
Lydia ..It was actually a 24 inch ruler..or as I would measure 15 and 144 dots.
To all of us who measure in the dot or line system maybe we are just ahead of our time.
Anna Lee
Anna Lee, I hate to break the bad news, but there's only 2.5 cm to an inch. (Actually 2.54 if you want to carry it out to the next decimal point.) I'm not sure how many dots that is. LoL
Dea
Dea; I stand corrected..you are right. Thank You. I miss read the conversion chart at the bottom of the fit age website.
Thanks for everyone who weighed in with their opinion, it's nice to know I'm not the only one who does this.
Anna Lee
I do measure in 1/8, 1/2" etc. but I do think in squares. My favorite rulers are the C-Thru rules that have a small grid of 1/16" squares. So when I working for my self (not a tutorial) I'll think of 1 1/2 + 1 square. I'd never say it to anyone else because it wouldn't make sense.
Sue - I agree with you a measuring tape is either cloth or metal that rolls up and a ruler is not either of those. But of course there is also the yard stick that is not a ruler or a measuring tape. LOL Oh just a thought - what are the wood "rulers" that fold up?
I do use the lines too sometimes, if the measurement isn't exactly on a 1/8, 1/2etc. mark. I find it easier than making my brain think 3/16 for example. I also do not get directions, stick me in the middle of nowhere and we would have to wait till sunset to find west or sunrise to find East. Canada uses the metric system but I was raised with Imperial so I tend to use inches and feet for measurement and kilogram and grams for weight, Centigrade for temperature, my little bit of weirdness:lol:
I too still think Imperial- partly because I am British and refuse to have metric foisted upon me, lol, and partly because I work in the aerospace fasteners industry, and everything is still sensibly imperial there. And I go with whatever works for a project, be it accurate fractions, or dots & limes. I mainly use my Tim ruler to cut mats, just lining up how wide I want my mat to be.
OMG!! This thread is absolutely HILARIOUS!!! I'm soooo a member of this group!! Back in the day, when I learned how to read a tape measure I could only remember 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 between the inch measurements. If anyone asked me what the measurement of something was I'd reply "5 & 1/2 inches and two little lines" etc., now it always worked for me so I figured a person who knew how to actually read the tape measure/ruler could figure it out. Then one day I was at the hardware store and found a tradies tape measure (the kind that rolls back into itself) and it has the measurements marked for everything!! I carry that puppy with me whenever I have to measure something while shopping. Don't get me started on the metric system, I'm hopeless with that!
This thread makes me smile.
Does no one measure in "scooches" or "smidges"? You know, like one and a scooch (or smidge)?
Another example: one and a half and a "little bit".
We are creative measurers in my stamping groups.
Now to me, schooch isn't a unit of measurement. It is a verb meaning to move over a small amount; such as "Scooch over so Jane can join us on the bench." I do use "smidgen" to mean a tiny bit.
I think this whole thread explains why I eyeball almost everything in scrapbooking and card making. That, and the fact that I can't measure accurately or cut straight.
Dea
Y'all got me curious about the word skosh, because I use that to mean 'just a little bit' but I never knew where the term came from. so I did a little digging, and found this word origin, which wasn't what I expected!
skosh n. Slang. a bit; a jot; We need just a skosh more room.
This word probably comes from the Japanese "sukoshi", meaning "a little" or "a little bit". In rapid informal speech it will sound to the English-speaking ear like "skoshe". Probably brought back to the US by soldiers of the Occupation.
Y'all got me curious about the word skosh, because I use that to mean 'just a little bit' but I never knew where the term came from. so I did a little digging, and found this word origin, which wasn't what I expected!
skosh n. Slang. a bit; a jot; We need just a skosh more room.
This word probably comes from the Japanese "sukoshi", meaning "a little" or "a little bit". In rapid informal speech it will sound to the English-speaking ear like "skoshe". Probably brought back to the US by soldiers of the Occupation.
Thanks for this! I never made the connection, but it makes perfect sense. I took Japanese in college and, if anyone asked me if I spoke Japanese, my answer was, "Sukoshi dake", which means "only a little bit". So there you go...
LOL Anna Lee! You DO sound like ME!!! Instead of using "dots," I said/say, "ticks!" ALTHOUGH, since taking up Paper Crafts, I have gotten MUCH BETTER in measuring things! If I'm EVER in question on my measuring, I run it by my hubby!!! THANK GOD for PATIENT HUBBIES!!!!!!!!!!!!;) This is a FUN THREAD!!! It's NICE TO KNOW, there are OTHERS JUST LIKE ME!!!! It STILL takes my FULL ATTENTION when measuring!!! ;) LOL
I found the above comments fun to read and glad to know that I am not the only one who forgot or didn't learn thing a long time ago! And as to finding direction, in our neck of the woods the sunshine so rarely there is not 4 directions, so I use my vans directional finder.
I have been told that I am a very "exact" person, and being out of school for a great number of years, my measuring skill were really bad when I started making cards two years ago.
Being that "everything has to be exact" kind of person, I fainted the first time I needed to cut my card stock somewhere between 1/4, 1/2 or 3/4 and being the type of person I am I quickly search online for a guide to use....that was a BIG joke! My all knowing husband quickly name all of those big and little and even smaller lines for me, need I mention his big all knowing smile as he named each one?
I created my own "cheat sheet" large enough to give me at a quick glance, those odd number like 5/8. And I have found that I have, over the last two years, learned my ruler measurements, but not beyond 16th.
As too metrics, they are quite easy and quite often handy when I need to find the center of a really odd number, like half of 7/8 which is 1.1 metric. A scratch paper, a dot at the 1" line and another at the 7/8. Turn the ruler over and you get 2.2 reduced to 1.1 cm
What was really hard for me was the card sizes in inches and cm., so confusing because of the difference in paper sizes here in the US and those used in England.
Last edited by Pezabelle; 01-22-2014 at 04:27 AM..
Reason: incorrect spell and an unfiished sentence
dini - you are right. sukoshi is japanese for little. I spent 2 years there when I was in the Navy. Liked it so much, that years later - I named my little dog... Sukoshi.
For years I used 1/4 or 1/2 +1 or -1. Taught myself to use 1/8th and 1/16th measurements and do that now. Feel proud that I taught myself something at this old age.
I use a see through ruler which has 1/8" lines going the long side and 1/2" lines going the short side. NEVER stamp without it and my Exacto knife. Can't make a card without them. Best way to cut layered cards that I've found.
I've always been handicapped with directions. I think it is something I was born with. Can't find east or west without the sun and then I have to think about where the sun is at that time of day. And don't get me started about left or right. My husband always asks "My left or your left" when I tell him where to turn. I mix them up all the time despite knowing exactly which. I almost always get them reversed.
I've never thought of "dots" but it's nice to know that others use "lines' besides myself. It's a case of I 1/2 inches less 2 lines, etc... I've tried to use 1/16th or 1/8th but find it too confusing and takes too long to figure when I can just count a line or two from the quarter or half mark... I'm good with reading maps though...
Last edited by ladyhawke; 01-22-2014 at 07:14 AM..
Reason: spelling eror
I grew up in the uk and we were taught in the metric system so I always measured stuff in cm and mm.
Then i bought an xcut guillotine and a martha scoring board so I've moved to using inches. I've also had to buy an inch grid ruler to mat and layer with. But I do count it up in 1/4s, 1/8s and 1/16s rather than dots!
(As an aside, I have noticed in a lot of american youtube videos that they say 3 and 3 fourths rather than 3 and 3 quarters which is what we would say - amazing how we speak the same language and yet we don't on so many occasions!)
When I want to be super exact I pull out the metric ruler. Like when I want to make sure a layer is exactly straight. I measure it too and bottom against the straight edge with a metric ruler. Especially important when another layer will be lined up against it and so on. Crooked makes me batty and I can see things as little as a half mm out. I KNOW! Nuts right?
But when I'm tired, well, then something becomes eg: 5/8 and a bit! Ha ha. Straightness is still just as important just how I express it becomes a bit muddled. I've taught quite a few students who can't handle 1/8th and 1/16ths because they learned so much metric that there wasn't as much focus on fractions. A travesty to be sure. They are still pretty important. Actually though, now that I think about it, some older students can't seem to remember either. They are either really good or really bad at working with fractions.
You sure made me laugh with your system tho. Pretty funny. I've been told many a time that I have a very masculine brain in many ways because I am very practical, good at math and science, have good spatial relationship skills (I am 99% right about whether the bookcase will fit between the wall and the couch, that kind of thing) and calm under pressure and panic situations. I am good at north and south but I may be slightly dyslexic because I'm bad at left and right and east and west. But I think the way my brain functions makes me good at reading maps and reading rulers well.
Best wishes to all of you in learning how to read the ticks and dots. Here's a question for you. Do you get messed up if you use a ruler that's new to you? Say one that has 32nds or 64ths on it instead of 8ths or 16ths? Does a change in how many ticks and dots there are throw you off?
__________________ RebeccaEdnie Mixed Media Artist, Paper Crafter, Jewelry Designer SCSDirtyDozenAlumni Www.Boxofchocolatescrafts.Com YouNeverKnowWhatI’mGoingtoMake
Measuring Projects
Learning it again after 50+ years
