"bigger than a school bus"

["Kent A. Stevens" <kent@cs.uoregon.edu>]

A museum spokesperson recently uttered the cliche standard of  
comparison:

“The Triceratops adult is bigger than a school bus and has two huge  
horns and a big frill on the back of its head,”

see:

http://www.beloitdailynews.com/articles/2006/08/16/news/081606news04.txt

So, do we need a NIST standard on school bus size?  Are they getting  
much shorter, narrower, and lower than when I was a kid?

And how does this community fight the tendency for lay people  
(including museum presidents), to not trivially use length as a proxy  
for size?

If length is the measure underlying the phrase "bigger than", then I  
have a garden hose that is bigger than a school bus.  Much bigger  
than a Triceratops, for that matter.

Grumble,

Kent

p.s., google the phrase (encapsulated in quotes to preserve exact  
wording) and you'll find whales, sharks, squids, ankylosaurs, and  
even some family vehicles so compared.  Some whales, maybe; but  
squids?  Naah.