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smoot /smoot/ n.
[MIT] A unit of length equal five
feet seven inches. The length of the Harvard Bridge in Boston is
famously 364.4 smoots plus an ear (the ear is allegedly the width
of the earhole in the side of the football helmet the victim was wearing
when he was rolled over the bridge). This legend began with a
fraternity prank in 1958 during which the body length of Oliver
Smoot (class of '62) was actually used to measure out that
distance. It is commemorated by smoot marks that MIT students
repaint every few years; the tradition even survived the demolition
and rebuilding of the bridge in the late 1980s. The Boston police
have been known to use smoot markers to indicate accident locations
on the bridge. Apparently Smoot's experience as a unit of
measurement led to a life-long career; he eventually became
Chairman of the Board of the American National Standards Institute.
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