What the heck is a nit?

I understand that lux is how brightly a surface is lit, nits also seem to measure the brightness of a surface, so in what ways are nits different than lux? Why is the brightness of a computer monitor given as nits and not lux?

Because the monitor is an emitter of light, not a surface being illuminated by it.

‘Nit’ is a (non-SI) unit of measurement of ‘luminance,’ a measure of light being emitted from or reflected by a surface. The SI-unit is candela/square meter, and one nit equals one candela/square meter.

‘Lux’ is a unit of measure of ‘illuminance’, a measure of light falling on a surface.

More on luminance vs illuminance from Konica Minolta.

‘Nits’ are also the eggs or larvae of head lice. :confounded:

I was raised LDS, but I am not religious now.

There is a terrible story about people in the U.S. killing Mormons, including Mormon children.

One the the killers justified his actions by saying, "Nits make lice."

True story.

A (member of a) Dutch popgroup. Wikipedia.

No offense raccoon city, that’s possible but generally “Nits make lice” is attributed to John Chivington who was the commander of a group of American volunteers that massacred 230 American Indian men, women, and children at Sand Creek.

Mormons were persecuted at times, but The Mountain Meadows Massacre was Mormons massacring 120 men, women, and children in a wagon train that was passing through Mormon territory in Utah on their way to California.

Anyway we know, and Simon Mao now knows that choosing “Litnit” as a brand name as he did a couple years ago wasn’t a good choice as the meaning to many was entirely different then what he had in mind.

Seems like this sentiment goes way back and has been repeated all too often: Nits Will Be Lice – Quote Investigator®

I guess that’s where the saying comes from ” Nit Picking ” —- tiniest imperfection/problem

Okay, maybe it's not the most famous quote, here's the long version:

"Nits will make lice, and if he had lived he would have become a Mormon."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haun%27s_Mill_massacre

That took place in 1838.

The Sand Creek massacre took place in 1864.

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

So, John Chivington might have been copying William Reynolds from the Haun's Mill massacre.

Apparently. I never knew about the 1683 origins or that it was so widely quoted.

Oh, wow.

I missed that post.

It does go way back!

This thread turned hard off the path. Interesting reads. I’d actually read both of those Mormon events earlier, but the 1600’s stuff was new. As we are discoursing on history, I will add a personal tale with an apology for taking the OPs question even further off track (sorry man!).

After I got out of the ward, I volunteered at the VA hospital for a couple of years. There was a WW1 womens auxiliary group there called the “Cooties”. As a kid, I’d played that game of cooties, but the women calling themselves “cooties” didn’t make sense so I asked Edna, an elderly “Cootie” who had a perpetual smile around her eyes about it. Edna was always up at the hospital and supported the vets any way she could.

Edna, I asked: “why do you guys call yourselves ”cooties”.

Why dear, Edna replied with that wry smile: “It’s because we attach ourselves to our men, that’s why we call ourselves ”Cooties” “.

I looked confused and must have grunted a few times until Edna asked: “dear, do you know what a cootie is? ”

Thinking of the game and the large yellow plastic pieces and it not adding up, I said: “Uhh, no maam”

Edna’s smile mostly leaving she said somewhat seriously: “Cooties are lice……crablice dear”.

Then I got it, the men in the trenches lived with insufferable infestations of lice, they couldn’t shake them off. I laughed uproariously and Edna’s smile returned. Wish I could have told that story to my grandfather who was unable to discuss his time in the trenches.

Cooties, the game which I had familiarity with (1949 version):

Thank you all for the great memories.

Lol, I don’t mind the digressions. I think it is good to learn history.

A nit is the larval form of a louse (singular for lice). Nit-picking? You now know the true definition. Anybody got a lice comb?

Just make like in “Alien 3” and shave everything bald. :laughing:

Nothing for ’em to grab hold of.