On Fri, 30 Mar 2007 10:16:16 -0800, Edgar J. De Cleene  
<edgardec2001 at yahoo.com.ar> wrote:

> But also we could have <- in Squeak, is two chars and unique and for
> standards read  http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/5914


 From Snopes (who has this labeled as FALSE):

Origins:   This is one of those items that -- although wrong in many of  
its details — isn't exactly false in an overall sense and is perhaps more  
fairly labelled as "True, but for trivial and unremarkable reasons."  
Marvelling that the width of modern roadways is similar to the width of  
ancient roadways is sort of like getting excited over a notion such as  
"modern clothes sizes are based upon standards developed by medieval  
tailors." Well, duh. Despite obvious differences in style, clothing in the  
Middle Ages served the same purpose as clothing today (i.e., to cover,  
protect, and ornament the human body), and modern human beings are very  
close in size to medieval human beings (we are, on average, a little bit  
taller and heavier than we were several centuries ago, but not much), so  
we naturally expect ancient and modern clothing to be similar in size.

So, rather than going into excruciating detail about the history of  
transportation, we'll simply note that roads are built (or worn) to  
accommodate whatever uses them, and that for many centuries prior to the  
advent of railroads, what travelled on roads were mostly wheeled  
conveyances, pulled by beasts of burden (primarily horses), carrying  
passengers and goods.

http://www.snopes.com/history/american/gauge.htm