Rulers for Dummies

Folding rule

The late H. L. Mencken is alleged to have said, "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public." In reality, Mencken didn't say that; but going on a century later, freelancers desperate for pennies continue to test the apochryphal aphorism every day. Take, for instance, InfoBarrel's¹ Howie Romans (x3xsoldierx3x), who had so little faith in the common man that he took it upon himself to attempt to teach the masses "How to Read a Ruler Measurement." Never mind that the title's redundant – more importantly, it borders on insulting when Howie suggests that

"...some people find it difficult to read a ruler measurement when one gets beyond a whole inch or 1/2 inch increment..."

We won't belabor the grammatical implications of "beyond a whole inch... increment"; we're here to point out the dumbassery of the post. We realize that the average kindergartner probably can't read a ruler – hell, kids don't get fractions until the third or fourth grade. But does Romans actually think that information like "Dependent upon what you are measuring, and why you are measuring it, you may or may not require greater levels of precision..." ...pertains for a seven-year-old? and that said seven-year-old can even read it? And let's be honest: what adult doesn't know how to read a ruler and, more to the point, requires five-step instructions to learn? Really, people need help because

"On some occasions, your measurement may fall directly onto the inch marker, while other measurements may require a more precise reading."

Such non-parallel constructions aside, Romans spends almost as much page space flogging his referral links to InfoBarrel and some software (In boldface type!) as he does in actual instructions. He never addresses the topic of interpolation -- something more than a few adults don't understand.  

If Howie had offered instructions for reading a micrometer or a Vernier caliper, we could see the point. But he didn't: he insulted our intelligence by writing, at a high-school level, instructions for something people learn before they're ten. That's a waste of our time, and more than qualifies him as our Dumbass of the Day.

¹ InfoBarrel has deleted all user-generated content and become a "green" website, but this post can still be reead by using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   www.infobarrel.com/How_to_Read_a_Ruler_Measurement

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