smoot

[bbeeton]

A "smoot" is a nonstandard unit of measure. A recognizable equivalent is 5 feet, 7 inches, the height of Oliver R. Smoot at the time the measurement in question took place. The (perhaps unique) use of the unit is in specifying the length of the Harvard Bridge, which spans the Charles River between Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Read the full story here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot.

The individual to whom the surname belongs later became the chairman of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and then the president of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), two organizations with working groups on which I had the pleasure of serving.

[Slava]

According to Collins Dictionary, it also means to do casual work as a printer. No etymology given, however.

Every genealogy site I looked at had the exact same phrase for the origin, so I don't really trust them.

[Dr. Goodword]

I can't figure out where it came from, not even a hint.

[bbeeton]

There was another individual named Smoot -- Senator Reed Smoot, one of the authors of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930, also called "Smoot's Law on Smut", and the reason behind the headlines "Smoot Smites Smut".

A commentary on this piece of legislation can be found at https://www.marketplace.org/2017/08/24/ ... gislation/.

I don't know whether the two Smoots were related.

[Slava]

I imagine when they give a speech, they are smoot talkers.