How much is a butt load of stuff?

Get a load of this…There is an exact unit of volume measurement called the butt.

Definition from Webster’s dictionary:

Butt: a measure of liquid capacity equal to 126 gallons or two hogs heads.

From another dictionary:

An English butt is 2 hogshead of 54 imperial gallons each or ~129.7 US gallons (i.e., a UK butt is apparently slightly bigger than a US one).

A Spanish butt is based on a wine cask and is equivalent to 140 US gallons or ~116.6 UK gallons (i.e., a Spanish butt is bigger still).

So next time someone says they have a “butt load” of stuff, just remember, that is a little over two 55-gallon barrels worth of stuff.

To recap…

    1 butt equals:
  • 2 hogsheads (this is probably the easiest to remember for social occasions)
  • 476.961 liters
  • 126 gallons
  • 104.917 UK gallons
  • 13.5347 bushels
  • 0.131592 cords
  • 11.6574 firkins
  • 4032 gills
  • 21504 ponys
  • 4032 noggins
  • 1008 pints
  • 96768 teaspoons
  • 12.0308 ephahs
  • 1.58987×10^7 drops
  • 10752 jiggers
  • 16128 shots
  • 629.504 wine bottles
  • 630 fifths

And the punchline…

One microbutt = 0.0968 teaspoons.