Five by Five

[chargenburst]

What kinds of situations would you say it in?

[Anglika]

Measuring. "That floor is five by five (metres)

[billmcd]

Derogatory slang meaning a person is five feet tall and five feet wide, "Mr. five by five".

[Gillnetter]

What kinds of situations would you say it in?

It generally means that I can hear you quite well. It comes from the old days of radio - it means that I hear you loud and clear (5 x 5)

[elmundodelexito]

Wao, I never heard that one before

[Gillnetter]

Wao, I never heard that one before

From Wikinpedia - A transmitting station may request a report on the subjective quality of signal they are broadcasting. In the military of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries, and other organizations, the signal quality is reported on two scales; the first is for signal strength, and the second for signal clarity. Both these scales range from one to five, where one is the worst and five is the best. The listening station reports these numbers separated with the word "by". Five by five therefore means a signal that has excellent strength and perfect clarity — the most understandable signal possible.
"Five by five" (occasionally written "'5 by 5", "five-by-five" or "5-by-5"), by extension, has come to mean "I understand you perfectly" in situations other than radio communication. A further shortened form is "five by". Post-World War II, the phrase "Loud and Clear" entered common usage with a similar meaning.

[Johny123]

Generally it is used to measured space or specific area, suppose 5 meters width & five meter length so total 25 meter area

[SUDHKAMP]

Today, I find that despite her failing health, Anglika found time to answer the students of this forum.
Simply great!!!

[philadelphia]

Today, I find that despite her failing health, Anglika found time to answer the students of this forum.
Simply great!!!

[leiito]

Today, I find that despite her failing health, Anglika found time to answer the students of this forum.
Simply great!!!

Yes and no. And perhaps part cultural not linguistic. "Simply great" may be expressing a bit too much enthusiasm in a situation when someone's health is failing (unless one was discussing a significant improvement of course). In fact, to say that someone's health is failing implies a serious and deteriorating medical condition, which as such is a private matter, usually not something people like to see discussed on a public message board.

And a question for the sticklers for tenses. Would a present perfect be better here, as in "Anglika has found the time* to answer the students...If so why?

*for the ultimate hair splitters, the idiomatic expression is to find the time to do something.