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by ThePrognosticAgnostic on November 11th, 2008
"The 'rule of thumb'turns out to be an excellent example of what might be called a feminist fiction....According to Canadian folklorist Philip Hiscock, 'The real explanation of 'rule of thumb'is that it derives from woodworkers....who knew their trade so well they rarely or never fell back on the use of such things as rulers. Instead, they would measure things by, for example, the length of their thumbs." (Sommers, 1994)It has nothing to do with wife-beating.
Sommers, C. (1994). Who Stole Feminism. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster.
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