It turns out that John's 10-meter pole might not be excessively long after all.
>From the OED: c. Colloq. phr. I wouldn't touch him (it) with a forty-foot (or ten-foot) pole (and varr.): I refuse to have anything to do with him (it). Cf. BARGE-POLE. 1903 �T. COLLINS� Such is Life 22 The young feller he used to come sometimes an' just shake hands with her, but otherways he wouldn't touch her with a forty-foot pole. 1909 Dialect Notes III. 383, I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole. 1941 Coast to Coast 167 �Me take the harness off him!� my mother said, surprised. �Why, I wouldn't touch that mad thing with a forty-foot pole.� 1958 E. O. SCHLUNKE Village Hampden 26 Attracting a lot of business of the more or less shady sort that our reputable men wouldn't touch with a forty-foot pole. 1974 P. ERDMAN Silver Bears I. 11 No respectable bank..would touch our business with a ten-foot pole. Note that the ten-foot pole is most likely a barge pole. Bill Potts, CMS Roseville, CA http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Bill Potts Sent: Friday, April 05, 2002 17:24 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:19278] RE: Gram of action I doubt that there is such a thing as a ten-meter pole. It would be a little unwieldy, don't you think? I believe ten-foot poles were actually used for something (by builders). A three-meter pole might make sense and would be about the right size. To summarize, "I wouldn't touch that with a three-meter pole" might be an exception to a general policy of leaving proverbs as they are. Bill Potts, CMS Roseville, CA http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of kilopascal Sent: Friday, April 05, 2002 15:53 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:19275] RE: Gram of action 2002-04-05 How about: I wouldn't touch that with a ten metre pole? It sounds better in metric than in FFU. John
