✳Two feet six (long)

Question

Page 709 of Collins Cobuild English Usage reads

If you are expressing size using feet and inches, you do not have to say inches, two foot six long.

However, you can't say ✳two feet six.

Firstly, is the adjective long/deep/etc. required in two foot six long?

Secondly, why is ✳two feet six not admissible?

Good question, but I don't think there is a clear why to this. It's just an arbitrary idiom. It still applies when there are no inches - e.g. "a fifty-foot boat" - so it's more a matter of the length being used as an adjective rather than as a measure. — Toby Speight, Sep 29 '21 at 16:06
There are some good related questions about usage: "Five foot ten" or "five feet ten"? and "6-foot tall" or "6-feet tall"? - though I don't think there's a detailed examination of origins or logic in either. — Toby Speight, Sep 29 '21 at 16:10

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 26 '21 at 11:16

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Firstly, is the adjective long/deep/etc. required in two foot six long?

No.

Secondly, why is ✳two feet six not admissible?

The "X foot Y" construction is very idiomatic. In any other context you would indeed say "two feet" -- "two feet six inches", "two feet and six inches", "two and a half feet", etc.

answered Sep 26 '21 at 11:16

Gabriel

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'two foot six' is an informal, conversational way of saying, more formally, 'two feet and six inches' when referring to heights, lengths, depths, etc. – Michael Harvey Sep 26 '21 at 13:02

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 26 '21 at 14:01

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This is very frequently used when talking about people's heights (at least in countries where people don't use centimeters), and you almost always leave out the adjective tall.

At six foot four, he towered over most of his classmates.

You can even leave out the word foot when it's clear from context that you're talking about height:

Q: How tall are you?

A: I'm five-six on a good day.

answered Sep 26 '21 at 14:01

Canadian Yankee

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https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/five-six#Noun – GJC Sep 26 '21 at 14:25
@GJC I don't think anyone would interpret the response to "How tall are you?" as anything to do with usury in the Philippines. – Canadian Yankee Sep 26 '21 at 21:35

✳Two feet six (long)

2 Answers2