A fall or fa’ is a Scottish measurement of length. Other variants of the name include "faw", "faa" and "fa"; the spelling with an

apologetic apostrophe The 'apologetic'Graham W. (1977) The Scots Word Book, The Ramsay Head Press, Edinburgh, p.11 or parochial apostrophe is the distinctive use of apostrophes in Modern Scots orthography. Apologetic apostrophes generally occurred where a consonant exis ...

is not favoured now. The measurement was mostly out of use by the 19th century, and English measurements were imposed in 1824 by an act of parliament. There were 320 falls in a Scots mile. Equivalent to: * Scottish measures: 18 ft, or 6

ell An ell (from Proto-Germanic *''alinō'', cognate with Latin ''ulna'') is a northwestern European unit of measurement, originally understood as a cubit (the combined length of the forearm and extended hand). The word literally means "arm", and ...

s *

Metric system The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the Decimal, decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in French Revolution, France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the d ...

: 5.6479 metres * Imperial system: 6.1766 yards, 1.123 rods

See also