Units of Measure

You know about centimetres vs. inches. You know about C vs. F. About litres vs. pints, quarts, etc. And kilos vs. pounds. Speed: km/hr vs. mph. And even loonies vs. greenbacks.

But generally speaking, time is time. Different cultures may celebrate different time-based holidays. The actual dates of the new year and even religious holidays like Christmas and Easter are up for grabs to some extent.

But an hour is an hour, a minute is a minute, etc. Right?

Yeah, sorta. But I have heard a time-related unit of measure only on this side of the border. (Yes, I know -- not a scientific survey at all.)

It's "sleep." As in, "Two sleeps till Christmas!" It's used in my own house, by the jolly crew on Canada A.M., and in the For Better or For Worse comic strip. Plus I've heard other people around town use the phrase.

I have not heard it used south of the border.

My husband, who is good at answering questions even when he doesn't REALLY know answers, thinks using "sleep" as an alternate for "day" comes from Native culture. Which you'd think would have been an influence south of the border as well, particularly in Oklahoma. However. I heard it here first and I'm sticking to that story.

It's my favourite Canadian measurement so far because it's easily understandable (darkness, then light) and requires no translation.

I also like it because it uses downtime as the measuring tool. Not the "day" part, in which we're supposed to rush and rush and get stuff done and compete and achieve and measure our successes by wins and dollars and citations and deals.

Nope. Instead, it celebrates the "sleep" part, when we are allowed -- encouraged, even -- to do nothing. Our bodies may be busy repairing the day's damage at the cellular level, but our consciousness can rest and perhaps even create some interesting stories to entertain us while we sleep.

And that's how I hope more of us can experience this coming weekend -- a holiday for some of us, an enforced weekend away from work for others. I hope the time is about BEING, not DOING. A time for refreshment and renewal.

But meanwhile, I have a little rushing around to do before my next sleep.

UPDATE: After googling, my husband now says that Native cultures tend to use use "sleep" as a unit of distance. As in, "Grandmother's house is two sleeps away." Its use as a unit of time is more a mainstream-culture thing.

All I know is, I heard it up here first.