Mile mile to diverge. Owing to the importance of the surveyor's rod in deeds and surveying undertaken under Henry VIII, decreasing the length of the rod by would have amounted to a significant tax increase. Parliament instead opted to maintain the mile of 8 furlongs (which were derived from the rod) and to increase the number of feet per mile from the old Roman value. The applicable passage of the statute reads: "A Mile shall contain eight Furlongs, every Furlong forty Poles, and every Pole shall contain sixteen Foot and half." The statute mile therefore contained 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards.
How Are Things in Glocca Morra? made up by composer Lane, who had devised a dummy lyric beginning with the line, "There's a glen in Glocca Morra". Harburg liked the name but insisted on changing the line to "How are things in Glocca Morra?" because this is personal and immediately evocative of nostalgia and homesickness. James Stephens' work "The Crock of Gold" (first published in 1912) refers to "the leprechauns of Gort na Gloca Mora" ("the field of the big rock" in Gaelic). It is unknown whether Lane or Harburg were aware of the novel or if this is a coincidence. Many versions of this song