Oche

Settled by the World Darts Federation in 1977 as a compromise between two competing throwing distances.

The throwing line in darts sits at seven feet nine and a quarter inches, which looks like the kind of figure that must descend from something. It descends from a committee.

Two distances were in competition. The National Darts Association of Great Britain used seven feet six inches, adopted by the BDO in 1973. The News of the World tournament used eight feet. When the World Darts Federation was founded in 1977 its member countries wanted one standard, and the arithmetic midpoint of those two is exactly seven feet nine inches.

The extra quarter inch came from the metric side. At the WDF meeting at Wembley in 1977 the delegates adopted 2.37 metres, reportedly on a Swedish proposal, and seven feet nine and a quarter inches is the imperial figure closest to it. The explanation usually offered is that the odd measurement converts neatly to 2.37 metres, and it very nearly does: it is actually 2.36855 metres, which rounds there but does not land on it.

So the oche is an imperial distance chosen to approximate a metric one, which was itself chosen to split the difference between two older imperial ones. Few units have a more honest paper trail.