A medical question perhaps about "2*4 beam bout"

This sounds like American vernacular (casual) (slang) speech. Explanation:

1. In US vernacular, a "two by four" or "2 x 4" or as in this case "2*4" is the name of a common size of cut wood used in construction etc and a length of such wood can be a crude weapon. It is a piece of wood whose cross section is two inches (~50mm) on one direction and four inches (~100mm) in the other.

2. In US rural vernacular, "about" is often abbreviated to "bout"

Thus the writer is talking about an expected or feared event (probably a sudden ALS progression) whose effect will be as serious and dramatic in his life as a "two by four" hitting him on the head.

Can you see the picture?

You got it.

If you ever need to know, those dimensions are very nominal. a 2 x 4 actually measures 'bout 1 3/4 X 3 3/4.

In the British English section of the Anglosphere, these are called "four by twos". This is also a nominal measure, a generic term for anything around that size such as 90 x 45 mm, 100 x 47, etc.

To clarify somewhat, like the overwhelming majority of countries, the countries of the British English zone have all adopted the metric system for commerce, engineering, construction, and so on. Most are completely metric but some are partial e.g. British highway signs still show distances in miles or yards and speed limits are miles per hour. Engineering drawings, construction and architectural plans etc are metric and so are the materials specified in them, but many (especially older) people still talk in feet and inches in a casual way. So they might say "You want to use four by twos there" but when they order the timber (not "lumber") they would use the exact metric measurements. Australia and New Zealand are pretty much metricated and Canada is part way there - most laws, regulations, and official forms exclusively use metric measurements. However, imperial measures still have legal definitions in Canada and can be used alongside of metric units

Even where metric is in place, old habits die hard. Meat and butter in Canada are sold by the pound, even if the packaging says 454 grams. Things like anti-freeze and windshield washer fluid are sold in four liter jugs, just as they were once sold in gallon jugs.

2x4s measure 1.5 " x 3.5", Roger. Unplaned/rough 2x4s are full 2"x 4" though older ones will have shrunk from dying to ambient moisture levels.

depends on if if it rough sawn, or sawn and dried and planed.

I think they have encroached on the nomenclature further than you know. A 2 X 4 was supposed to be the size before planing. Some of the warped and twisted crap I'm seeing has never seen a planer, and it's still undersized.

Let me tell you how far these crooks have gone with this. You can buy MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) with a nominal size of 1 X 4, and darned if the stuff isn't the same actual size as a 1 x 4 fir board. MDF is not planed, so what's the deal?

Who says it was "supposed" to be Roger?



That's called "drying" which results in shrinkage. Wood, depending how how it's cut. Of course it is really important that an old corral plank is exactly two by four. I've had cattle and horses that have refused to stay in corrals with undersized planks.



The deal is, that it's sized to match other existing wood product sizes so you don't have to trim off pieces to match existing wood product sizes.