[lbo-talk] The Abominable Rule of Thumb

[Dwayne Monroe]

I was going to call my post punk, neo nu metal,
trans-rap group *Rule of Thumb* but given the phrase's
apparently troubled history my bandmates and I will
have to settle for our second choice: The Abominable
Doctor Phibes.  Or, considering possible copyright
problems, maybe our third: *Language Tools of The
Patriarchy*.

I did a little Google research and came up with the
following:

from a list of questions, apparently for a test -

http://www.nvcc.edu/home/lriggleman/chapter_13_quiz.htm

The origin of the phrase, "the rule of thumb" is from:

a. carpenters, who used their thumbs to measure the
thickness of lumber.

b. lumberjacks, who could not cut a branch unless it
was twice as thick as a thumb.

c. the Puritans, who believed it advisable to whip
children as long as the stick was no larger than a
man's thumb.

d. the time in our history when men were legally
permitted to beat their wives, as long as the stick
was no thicker than a thumb.

=====

from a *Letter in defense of Christina Hoff Sommers
sent to the Los Angeles Times* -

http://www.friesian.com/times.htm

Dear Sirs:

If Linda Hirshman is going to accuse Christina Hoff
Sommers of distortions that can be corrected with
"half an hour" of research, she should at least pay
attention to what Dr. Sommers says and take some care
that she understands what points Sommers is making.

Professor Hirshman actually confuses two entirely
different issues. First, whether the phrase "rule of
thumb" derives from old laws legalizing wife beating;
and second, whether there were laws legalizing wife
beating. Professor Hirshman cites Sommers claiming
that the English jurist William Blackstone "found that
the common law prohibited violence against wives."
However, Hirshman's actual quote from Blackstone is to
much the same effect as Sommers' own quote from
Blackstone: That the "old" common law, as understood
by Blackstone, allowed the corporal punishment ("the
due government and correction") of wives by their
husbands is not disputed by Sommers. The first
question was whether Blackstone used the phrase "rule
of thumb," and the answer to that was that he did not.
Similarly, Sommers' point was that the phrase "rule of
thumb" did not occur in the 19th century court cases
that feminists have cited. Hirshman does not dispute
any of this, because she seems to have missed the
point of Sommers' argument. 

[...]

=======

More lingusitic fun at -

http://tinyurl.com/uksi

DRM

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