onsdag 8 april 2009

En regeltumregel

Ur Värmlands Folkblad 4 april [klickbar bild]:Det kan även noteras att den sympatiska damen i Boondock Saints (4:30 och framåt) har fel i sitt antagande om tumregelns ursprung - från Wikipedia:

The earliest citation comes from Sir William Hope’s The Compleat Fencing-Master, second edition, 1692, page 157: "What he doth, he doth by rule of thumb, and not by art." The term is thought to originate with wood workers who used the length of their thumbs rather than rulers for measuring things, cementing its modern use as an inaccurate, but reliable and convenient standard.

It is often claimed that the term originally referred to a law that limited the maximum thickness of a stick with which it was permissible for a man to beat his wife, but this has been discredited.

Vidare på tumfronten så är en tum ungefär avståndet från tumknogen till tumspetsen, och en hockeypuck är en tum hög och tre tum i diameter.

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