"Tim Streater" wrote in message
.. .
In article ,
wrote:

The smoot is a nonstandard unit of length created as part of an MIT
fraternity prank. It is named after Oliver R. Smoot, who in
October 1958 lay down repeatedly on
the Harvard Bridge (between Boston & Cambridge, Mass) so that his
fraternity brothers could use his height to measure the length of the
bridge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot


What does:

"a fraternity pledge to Lambda Chi Alpha"

mean?

https://people.howstuffworks.com/fraternity2.htm

Is it even English?

Yank, actually.