this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2025
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xkcd #3138: Dimensional Lumber Tape Measure

Title text:

A person with two watches is never sure what time it is, especially if I got them one of the watches.

Transcript:

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3138/

explainxkcd for #3138

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[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I've always chalked it up to shrinkage of the product during storage and shipping

[–] manxu@piefed.social 7 points 2 days ago

And that's what men the world over use to measure their appendage!

[–] sanguinepar@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago
[–] CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Can still work as long as you use the same ruler and just use referenced measurements.

[–] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That 8” mark though 😂

[–] burntbacon@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 2 days ago

I was sort of expecting a more in-your-face callout of the 6" being at the 5.5" mark, considering most men...

[–] mushroommunk@lemmy.today 2 points 2 days ago

Eh, not a problem at all. You can't make it look exactly like my other three and I make sure to use the same tape measure throughout a project, really after the first couple cuts I'm not even using it I'm using the cut pieces to measure against.

I don't care what the number actually is, just that I can mark in the same spot consistently.

[–] maxxadrenaline@lemmy.world 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

pretty sure its been modified for one as an excuse to cut costs but the excuse is that it allows clearance for remodeling since in the 1900s a 2x4 WAS a 2x4 but with wear and tear smaller size 2x4s were easier for renovations.

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