Citoyenne la traductrice jacobine

Ah! mes amis... Just to remind you that I haven't fallen off the face of the planet, I bring you my handy height-conversion chart. :D

As you may or may not know, the pre-metric French system of measures, while having such terms as "pieds," does not correspond to the current American system using such measurements as "feet." One "pied" is actually equivalent to 1.066 feet (while 1 pouce = 1.066 inches or 2.707 cm). While this may not seem like a huge amount, it makes quite a difference when it comes to height.

You'll recall, for example, that Le Bas's passport lists his height as 5'6", however, given that this is in pieds and pouces rather than feet and inches, this is a rather misleading statistic for those of us used to the latter system. Le Bas may have been 5 pieds 6 pouces, but he was 5 feet 10.3 inches (178.662 cm)--at a time when the average height was about 5'6" (and that in feet and inches). In other words, Le Bas was on the tall side, and would fit in rather nicely today, heightwise.

This also leads to the resolution of such persistent myths as that of Bonaparte's supposed "shortness"; at 5 pieds 2 pouces, he was nowhere near the height of Le Bas, but was in fact quite average for the time, coming in at 5 feet 6.1 inches (167.834 cm).

Having noted two particular examples, I leave you with a potentially useful height conversion chart, calculated by myself:

5 pieds = 162.42 cm = 63.9 inches = 5'3.9"
5 pieds 1 pouce = 165.127 cm = 65 in = 5'5"
5 pieds 2 pouces = 167.834 cm = 66.1 in = 5'6.1"
5 pieds 3 pouces = 170.541 cm = 67.1 in = 5'7.1"
5 pieds 4 pouces = 173.248 cm = 68.2 in = 5'8.2"
5 pieds 5 pouces = 175.955 cm = 69.3 in = 5'9.3"
5 pieds 6 pouces = 178.662 cm = 70.3 in = 5'10.3"
5 pieds 7 pouces = 181.369 cm = 71.4 in = 5'11.4"
5 pieds 8 pouces = 184.076 cm = 72.5 in = 6'0.5"
5 pieds 9 pouces = 186.783 cm = 73.5 in = 6'1.5"
5 pieds 10 pouces = 189.49 cm = 74.6 in = 6'2.6"
5 pieds 11 pouces = 192.197 cm = 75.7 in = 6'3.7"
6 pieds = 194.907 cm = 76.7 in = 6'4.7"

In other news, today I got my teeth cleaned and went to a used booketore, wherein I found a collection of Corneille plays and a book on 18th century French furniture, both of which I duly purchased. Nothing else much exciting has occured that I can recall. Except that my translation of Gallo's Open Letter should be ready for posting soon.