Re: [OT] Gill

Thus spoke Mike.Elliott@integris.co.uk on Thu, Nov 22, 2001 at
01:39:59PM +0000 :
> 
> I think you'll find it is RAF Mildenhall, not Mindenhall. I ought to
know,
> I spent the first 18 years of my life in Suffolk!
> Come to think of it, Jon T. is still there....
> regards, Mike
> 
> 
> 
> Now, you have to understand, up until the joke that confused so many
of us
> colonials, I don't recall ever hearing of gill as a volume. I have
heard
> lists of obscure measures, but just draw blank on that.
> 
> Funny coincidence: at a 'thrift store', I saw a bar shot dispenser
(insert
> fifth of liquor upside down, push glass up against dispenser, get a
> measured shot).
> 
> Now, I don't have a home bar; in fact, probably consume alcohol on the
> drink per quarter schedule at best, but I noticed a plastic plate
> indicating 'RAF Mindenhall Suffolk, England'. My strained memory was
that
> Mindenhall was US 8th's HQ during WWII, but even if not, I was tempted
by a
> supposed RAF artifact.
> 
> The clincher was the indication, on the lower clear part, that it
measured
> '1/6 Gill'. ;->=
> 
> Back to your on-topic discussions, already in progress.

To conclude the off topic discussion of RAF memorabilia, obsolete
Imperial
measurements and heavy drinking..

The piece of equipment in question is known in the trade as an 'Optic',
and
might make some nice futuristic scenery if you can get hold of a broken
one
on the cheap.

I'm not in the trade myself, but my girlfriend did several stints as a
barmaid
during our university years.

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