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this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2025
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Is…is that true?
Yes, if somewhat indirectly, as in that wasn’t the goal.
Historically, the Romans invented the mile and it measured 1,000 soldier’s paces (if you speak a Latin-based language you will likely recognize “mile” as meaning 1,000). A soldier’s pace was supposed to cover 5 feet. Thus, one mile historically equaled 5,000 feet. Lots of countries influenced by the Roman Empire used to use some variant on that idea and they tended to stay fairly close in length, but there weren’t really any agreed-upon international standards.
Ohhh, that makes so much sense. In Spanish, "one mile" = "una milla" from "millar" = a thousand units