imediasun1,
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>[]</title>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-latest.js"></script>
<script>
$(document).ready(function () {
var span = $('<span/>', {
'html': $('.submenu a').text()
})
document.body.appendChild(span[0]);
var span_width = span.width();
document.body.removeChild(span[0]);
var width = 0;
$('.submenu a').each(function (indx, element) {
width += $(element).width();
});
alert([$('.submenu').width(), span_width, width]);
});
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div class="submenu">
<a href="#">Текст в первом блоке</a>
<a href="#">Еще текст</a>
</div>
</body>
</html>