It’s a reference to a horror book that starts with a protagonist discovering his house is slightly bigger on the inside. Spooky hijinks ensue, and somewhere along the way you loose your mind reading that book.
10/10 would recommend.
I don’t know anything about the book in question, but I assumed it was because of the way the hook at the end of tape measures has a little play to it. If it’s a poorly made tape measure that doesn’t account for this properly, you get slightly different measurements by hooking around something versus pushing it against a surface.
(See point #5: https://www.ustape.com/hidden-features-of-measuring-tape/)
If it’s a poorly made tape measure to begin with, doesn’t really matter. Could easily end up with 1/12" off.
Oh right, fractions of an inch are usually expressed in fractions of powers of two. SI humour went right over my head because I’m used to seeing weird fractions involved in those measurements.
