A listener says his sister reprimanded him for using the term “rule of thumb.” She says the expression derives from an old British law that allowed a man to beat his wife with a stick, as long as it’s no wider than his thumb. Is that story true? This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Did “Rule of Thumb” Come from a Wife-Beating Law?”
Hi, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Glenn from Lebanon, Indiana.
Lebanon, Indiana. Welcome, Glenn.
Thank you.
Hello, Glenn.
Hello.
Where’s Lebanon?
It’s about 20 miles northwest of Indianapolis.
Gotcha. Gotcha. What’s going on?
Well, the question I had is that I have a sister who has rather feminist leaning.
And the question I had is she said that she has stopped using the term rule of thumb.
Because she thought that rule of thumb is a misogynistic statement.
Because it goes back to a rule that you couldn’t beat your wife with a stick bigger around than your thumb.
-huh.
And so the question I have is, is that indeed where the phrase came from or if she’s just being overly sensitive?
Mm—
Mm—
That’s a good question.
Right, and we’ve heard that story floating around quite a bit, Grant.
Yes, we have, as a matter of fact. Is she going to believe you if I tell you that she’s wrong?
If there’s a way I can back it up, but I’d have to have some proof.
But as long as she can hear it on the radio, I’m sure that she would.
Because we sound like the voice of authority.
Absolutely.
Well, the thing is, like Martha said, we have heard this before, and it’s one of those things that just, you can’t shake these false etymologies.
The truth is that the rule of thumb does not come from any law or any rule in any country that ever had anything to say about if you could or when you could or how you could beat a wife.
It doesn’t, unequivocally.
There’s no argument there.
Well, that’s good to know.
Just as a little background, it probably comes, rule of thumb, from the tendency of humans to measure things with their body.
We have feet, for example.
That’s our best example.
We might measure a horse in hands, and we might say something like, somebody’s as thick as an elbow.
Well, no, actually, I made that one up.
Yeah, but 300 cubits, you know, no work and all that.
Yeah, that’s what we do, right?
My father actually taught me how to do that when we were doing woodwork.
He’d say, you know, measure from your arm to your elbow and put it down here, and you can kind of, you know, if it’s not really important,
If you’re just building something, say, a temporary structure to hold firewood or something like that,
You don’t have to measure it down to the centimeter.
Now, the only thing that I can tell you further about the reason that this etymology exists,
And this is usually what’s a little more interesting about this,
Is that there was once a British judge who said something about that it was okay to beat one’s wife as long as the stick was no larger than a man’s thumb.
But, and the but is so important here, that was in 1782,
And it was long after the term rule of thumb already existed.
And he only said it.
He didn’t make a law about it.
It wasn’t put in a book somewhere.
It wasn’t an official policy or anything like that.
He was just a sexist pig.
Yeah, he was a really odd individual, very odd individual.
So I could see how somebody might misconstrue that,
But it’s one of those things that it’s so sensitive,
The discussion of beating one’s wife,
That I think it behooves us to get it right.
Well, I do find it a little ironic
Because my sister did hit me with a Montgomery Ward catalog in the head when we were teenagers.
Well, she’s learned her lesson since.
Now she’s a righteous person, right?
Yeah, that’s right.
And I wasn’t doing anything other than reading at the time, of course.
Well, good.
Thank you very much.
Thank you for your call, Glenn.
That helps clear it up.
All right.
Take care, sir.
All right.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Where do people come up with this topic, Martha?
We were at a party, and then beating wives comes up,
And then somebody just mentions, oh, by the way, rule of thumb comes from beating your…
No.
No, I think people will use the expression rule of thumb, you know,
Well, that’s a rule of thumb.
And then somebody else is like, don’t use that expression.
It has to do with beating one’s wife.
Every six months or so, I pick a new windmill to tilt.
Maybe I’ll pick this one next to tilt against.
Maybe I’ll pick this one next time.
Anyway, if you’ve got a question, if you’ve got a myth that needs debunking,
If you’ve got a language story that you want proven true or untrue, give us a call.
The number is 1-877-929-9673.
Or email us.
The address is words@waywordradio.org.
