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{{Short description|Approximate method for doing something}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2022}}
In [[English language|English]], the phrase '''''rule of thumb''''' refers to an approximate method for doing something, based on practical experience rather than theory.{{r|OED 2019|Wordsworth Dictionary 2001|Clapp 2011}} This usage of the phrase can be traced back to the 17th century and has been associated with various [[Trade (occupation)|trades]] where quantities were measured by comparison to the width or length of a [[thumb]].

A modern [[folk etymology]] holds that the phrase is derived from the maximum width of a stick allowed for [[wife-beating]] under English common law, but no such law ever existed. This belief may have originated in a rumored statement by 18th-century judge [[Sir Francis Buller]] that a man may beat his wife with a stick no wider than his thumb. Despite there being no record that Buller ever said this, the rumor produced numerous jokes and satirical cartoons at his expense, with Buller being ridiculed as "Judge Thumb".

English jurist [[Sir William Blackstone]] wrote in his ''[[Commentaries on the Laws of England]]'' of an "old law" that once allowed "moderate" beatings by husbands, but he did not mention thumbs or any specific implements. Wife-beating has been officially outlawed for centuries in England and the United States, but continued in practice; several 19th-century American court rulings referred to an "ancient doctrine" that the judges believed had allowed husbands to physically punish their wives using implements no thicker than their thumbs.

The phrase ''rule of thumb'' first became associated with domestic abuse in the 1970s, after which the spurious legal definition was cited as factual in a number of law journals; the [[United States Commission on Civil Rights]] published a report on domestic abuse titled "Under the Rule of Thumb" in 1982. Some efforts were made to discourage the phrase, which was seen as taboo owing to this false origin. During the 1990s, several authors correctly identified the spurious etymology; however, the connection to domestic violence was cited in some legal sources into the early 2000s.

== Origin and usage ==
The exact origin of the phrase is uncertain.{{r|Martin n.d.}} Its earliest (1685) appearance in print comes from a posthumously published collection of sermons by Scottish preacher [[James Durham (minister)|James Durham]]: "Many profest Christians are like to foolish builders, who build by guess, and by rule of thumb (as we use to speak), and not by [[Square (tool)|Square]] and [[Ruler|Rule]]."{{r|OED 2019|O'Conner 2009}}

The phrase is also found in Sir William Hope's ''The Compleat Fencing Master'' (1692): "What he doth, he doth by rule of Thumb, and not by [[Art (skill)|Art]]."{{r|Safire 2003}} James Kelly's ''The Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs'', 1721, includes: "No Rule so good as Rule of Thumb, if it hit",{{r|Kelly 1994|Kelly 1818}} meaning a practical approximation.{{r|Safire 2003}}
[[File:Width_of_man's_thumb_one_inch_ruler.png|alt=Man's thumb on a wooden ruler that is marked in inches|thumb|An adult's thumb is about one inch wide, so it can be used to estimate the size of an object.]]
Historically, the width of the thumb, or "thumb's breadth", was used as the equivalent of an [[inch]] in the cloth trade; similar expressions existed in Latin and French as well.{{r|O'Conner 2009|Kelly 1994}} The thumb has also been used in [[brewing]] beer, to gauge the heat of the brewing vat.{{r|Wordsworth Dictionary 2001}} [[Ebenezer Cobham Brewer]] writes that ''rule of thumb'' means a "rough measurement". He says that "Ladies often measure [[yard]] lengths by their thumb. Indeed, the expression 'sixteen nails make a yard' seems to point to the thumb-nail as a standard" and that "Countrymen always measure by their thumb."{{r|Brewer 1905}} According to ''Phrasefinder'', "The phrase joins [[the whole nine yards]] as one that probably derives from some form of measurement but which is unlikely ever to be definitively pinned down."{{r|Martin n.d.}}

== Folk etymology ==

=== English common law ===
[[File:Locale_RS6_Judge Thumb.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Cartoon of Sir Francis Buller in judges' robes and powdered wig, carrying bundles of rods whose ends resemble thumbs; in the background, a man with a rod raised over his head is about to strike a woman who is running away from him|Cartoon by [[James Gillray]] satirizing [[Sir Francis Buller]], 1782: "Judge Thumb; or, Patent Sticks for Family Correction: Warranted Lawful!"]]

A modern folk etymology relates the phrase to domestic violence via an alleged rule under English common law which permitted wife-beating provided that the implement used was a rod or stick no thicker than a man's thumb.{{r|Safire 2003}} Wife-beating has been officially outlawed in England and the United States for centuries, but enforcement of the law was inconsistent, and wife-beating did continue. However, a rule of thumb permitting wife-beating was never codified in law.{{r|Clapp 2011|Wallace 2016|Wilton 2004}}

English jurist [[William Blackstone]] wrote in the late 1700s in his ''[[Commentaries on the Laws of England]]'' that, by an "old law", a husband had formerly been justified in using "moderate correction" against his wife but was barred from inflicting serious violence; Blackstone did not mention either thumbs or sticks.{{r|Clapp 2011|Kelly 1994}} According to Blackstone, this custom was in doubt by the late 1600s, and a woman was allowed "security of the peace" against an abusive husband.{{r|Kelly 1994}}{{efn|One of Blackstone's sources was jurist [[Sir Matthew Hale]] who ruled in 1674 that a husband may admonish his wife and confine her to the house but not beat her.{{r|Clapp 2011}} }} Twentieth-century legal scholar [[William L. Prosser]] wrote that there was "probably no truth to the legend" that a husband was allowed to beat his wife "with a stick no thicker than his thumb".{{r|O'Conner 2009|Wallace 2016}}

The association between the thumb and implements of domestic violence can be traced to 1782, when English judge [[Sir Francis Buller]] was ridiculed for purportedly stating that a husband could beat his wife, provided that he used a stick no wider than his thumb.{{efn|Whether Buller was supposed to have meant his own thumb or the husband's is unknown. One history states, "A witty countess is said to have sent the next day to require the measurements of his thumb, that she might know the extent of her husband's right".{{r|Clapp 2011|Kelly 1994}} }} There is no record of Buller making such a statement, but the rumor generated much satirical press, with Buller being mocked as "Judge Thumb" in published jokes and cartoons.{{r|Clapp 2011|Kelly 1994|Foyster 2005}}

In the following century, several court rulings in the United States referred to a supposed common-law doctrine which the judges believed had once allowed wife-beating with an implement smaller than a thumb.{{r|O'Conner 2009}}{{r|Wilton 2004|pp=41–42}} None of these courts referred to such a doctrine as a rule of thumb or endorsed such a rule, but all permitted some degree of wife-beating so long as it did not result in serious injury.{{r|Clapp 2011}}

=== 19th-century United States ===
An 1824 court ruling in [[Mississippi]] stated that a man was entitled to enforce "domestic discipline" by striking his wife with a whip or stick no wider than the judge's thumb. In a later case in [[North Carolina]] (''State v. Rhodes'', 1868), the defendant was found to have struck his wife "with a switch about the size of this fingers"; the judge found the man not guilty due to the switch being smaller than a thumb.{{r|Wilton 2004|p=41}} The judgment was upheld by the state supreme court, although the later judge stated:

{{quote|Nor is it true that a husband has a right to whip his wife. And if he had, it is not easily seen how {{em|the thumb}} is the standard of size for the instrument which he may use, as some of the old authorities have said [...] The standard is the {{em|effect produced}}, and not the manner of producing it, or the instrument used.{{r|Kelly 1994}}{{r|Wilton 2004|pp=41–42}} }}

In 1873, also in North Carolina, the judge in ''State v. Oliver'' ruled, "We assume that the old doctrine that a husband had the right to whip his wife, provided that he used a switch no larger than his thumb, is not the law in North Carolina".{{r|Wallace 2016}}{{r|Wilton 2004|p=42}} These latter two cases were cited by the legal scholar [[Beirne Stedman]] when he wrote in a 1917 law review article that an "old common law rule" had permitted a husband to use "moderate personal chastisement on his wife" so long as he used "a switch no larger than his thumb".{{r|Kelly 1994|Wallace 2016}}

By the late 19th century, most American states had outlawed wife-beating; some had severe penalties such as [[Flagellation|forty lashes]] or imprisonment for offenders.{{r|Wilton 2004|p=40}} Although it was commonly believed in parts of the United States that a man was legally permitted to beat his wife with a stick no wider than his thumb, that belief did not have any connection with the phrase ''rule of thumb'' until a misunderstanding arose in the 1970s.{{r|Wilton 2004|pp=43–44}}

=== 20th-century feminist revival ===
In the 20th century, public concern with the problem of domestic violence declined at first, and then re-emerged along with the resurgent [[feminist movement]] in the 1970s.{{r|Clapp 2011}} The first recorded link between wife-beating and the phrase ''rule of thumb'' appeared in 1976, in a report on domestic violence by women's-rights advocate [[Del Martin]]: {{quote|For instance, the common-law doctrine had been modified to allow the husband 'the right to whip his wife, provided that he used a switch no bigger than his thumb'{{emdash}}a rule of thumb, so to speak.{{r|O'Conner 2009}} }}

While Martin appears to have meant the phrase ''rule of thumb'' only as a [[figure of speech]], some feminist writers treated it as a literal reference to an earlier law.{{r|O'Conner 2009}}{{r|Wilton 2004|p=43}} The following year, a book on battered women stated: {{quote|One of the reasons nineteenth century British wives were dealt with so harshly by their husbands and by their legal system was the 'rule of thumb'. Included in the British Common Law was a section regulating wifebeating [...] The new law stipulated that the reasonable instrument be only 'a rod not thicker than his thumb.' In other words, wifebeating was legal.{{r|Davidson 1977}} }}

Despite this erroneous reading of the common law (which is a set of judicial principles rather than a written law with individual sections) the spurious legal doctrine of the "rule of thumb" was soon mentioned in a number of law journals.{{r|Clapp 2011|Kelly 1994}} The myth was repeated in a 1982 report by the [[United States Commission on Civil Rights]] on domestic abuse titled "Under the Rule of Thumb", as well as a later United States Senate report on the [[Violence Against Women Act]].{{r|Clapp 2011}}

In the late 20th century, some efforts were made to discourage the phrase ''rule of thumb'',{{r|Kelly 1994}} which was seen as [[taboo]] owing to this false origin.{{r|Clapp 2011}} [[Patricia T. O'Conner]], former editor of the ''New York Times Book Review'', described it as "one of the most persistent myths of political correctness".{{r|O'Conner 2009}} During the 1990s, several authors wrote about the false etymology of ''rule of thumb'', including English professor [[Henry Ansgar Kelly]] and conservative social critic [[Christina Hoff Sommers]],{{r|Clapp 2011}} who described its origin in a misunderstanding of Blackstone's commentary.{{r|Wallace 2016}} Nonetheless, the myth persisted in some legal sources into the early 2000s.{{r|Clapp 2011}}

== See also ==
* {{Anl|Coverture}}
* {{Anl|Heuristic}}
* {{slink|List of common false etymologies of English words|Idioms}}
* {{Anl|Nail (unit)}}
* {{Anl|Thumb signal}}

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name="Brewer 1905">{{cite book |last=Brewer |first=Ebenezer Cobham |title=Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: Giving the Derivation, Source, or Origin of Common Phrases, Allusions, and Words That Have a Tale to Tell |date=1905 |publisher=J.B. Lippincott |publication-place=Philadelphia |page=1226 |edition=revised and enlarged |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofphra00brew/page/1226/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access= |ol=13521152M |lccn=07018822 |oclc=1042984414 |via=the Internet Archive}}</ref>

<ref name="Clapp 2011">{{cite book |last=Clapp |first=James E. |display-authors=etal |title=Lawtalk: The Unknown Stories Behind Familiar Legal Expressions |date=2011 |publisher=Yale University Press |publication-place=New Haven |isbn=978-0-30-017817-3 |pages=219–225 |url=https://archive.org/details/lawtalkunknownst0000unse/page/219/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration |via=the Internet Archive}}</ref>

<ref name="Davidson 1977">{{cite book |last=Davidson |first=Terry |editor=Roy, Maria |title=Battered Women: A Psychosociological Study of Domestic Violence |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/batteredwomenpsy00roym/page/18/mode/1up?view=theater |chapter-url-access=registration |date=1977 |publisher=Van Nostrand Reinhold |publication-place=New York |page=18 |isbn=978-0-44-225645-6 |chapter=Wifebeating: A Recurring Phenomenon Throughout History |via=the Internet Archive}}</ref>

<ref name="Foyster 2005">{{cite book |last=Foyster |first=Elizabeth |title=Marital Violence: An English Family History, 1660-1857 |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |publication-place=New York |isbn=978-0-521-83451-3 |page=12 |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511495809.002 |chapter=Introduction |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KoyDJr08kFwC&pg=PA1 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

<ref name="Kelly 1818">{{cite book |last=Kelly |first=James |title=A Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs Explained and Made Intelligible to the English Reader |date=1818 |publisher=Rodwell & Martin |publication-place=London |oclc=817148860 |ol=22950371M |page=162 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OvxeAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA162 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

<ref name="Kelly 1994">{{cite journal |first=Henry Ansgar |last=Kelly |date=September 1994 |title=''Rule of Thumb'' and the Folklaw of the Husband's Stick |journal=Journal of Legal Education |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=341–365 |jstor=42893341 |issn=0022-2208}}</ref>

<ref name="Martin n.d.">{{cite web |last=Martin |first=Gary |date=n.d. |title=Rule of thumb |url=https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/rule-of-thumb.html |access-date=22 June 2024 |website=Phrase Finder}}</ref>

<ref name="OED 2019">{{cite OED |term=rule of thumb, ''n''. and ''adj''. |id=168726 |edition=3rd |date=September 2019}}</ref>

<ref name="O'Conner 2009">{{cite book |last1=O'Conner |first1=Patricia T. |last2=Kellerman |first2=Stewart |title=Origins of the Specious: Myths and Misconceptions of the English Language |date=2009 |publisher=Random House |publication-place=New York |isbn=978-1-58-836856-0 |pages=123–126 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Ju-Vu0v6GQC&pg=PA123 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

<ref name="Safire 2003">{{cite web |last=Safire |first=William |date=25 January 1998 |title=On Language; Misrule of Thumb |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/25/magazine/on-language-misrule-of-thumb.html |url-access=limited |website=The New York Times Magazine |issn=0028-7822 |page=12 |id={{proquest|2236320736}} |ref=none}} Reprinted in: {{block indent |em=1 |{{cite book |last=Safire |first=William |title=No Uncertain Terms: More Writing from the Popular "On Language" Column in The New York Times Magazine |date=2003 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |publication-place=New York |isbn=978-0-74-324955-3 |pages=188–190 |url=https://archive.org/details/nouncertainterms00safi/page/188/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration |via=the Internet Archive}} }}</ref>

<ref name="Wallace 2016">{{cite book |last1=Wallace |first1=Paul Harvey |last2=Roberson |first2=Cliff |title=Family Violence: Legal, Medical, and Social Perspectives |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |publication-place=New York |isbn=978-1-1386-4233-1 |edition=8th |doi=10.4324/9781315628271 |pages=50–51 |chapter=Intimate Partner Abuse and Relationship Violence |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Xa3DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

<ref name="Wilton 2004">{{cite book |last1=Wilton |first1=David |title=Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends |date=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |publication-place=New York |isbn=978-0-19-517284-3 |page=15 |url=https://archive.org/details/wordmythsdebunki00wilt_0/page/15/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration |via=the Internet Archive}}</ref>

<ref name="Wordsworth Dictionary 2001">{{cite book |last= |first= |title=The Wordsworth Dictionary of Phrase and Fable |date=2001 |publisher=Wordsworth Editions |publication-place=Ware, UK |isbn=978-1-84022-310-1 |page=1076 |url=https://archive.org/details/wordsworthdictio0000unse_r6r3/page/1076/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration |via=the Internet Archive}}</ref>

}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite web |last1=Adams |first1=Cecil |title=Does 'rule of thumb' refer to an old law permitting wife beating? |url=https://www.straightdope.com/21343678/does-rule-of-thumb-refer-to-an-old-law-permitting-wife-beating |website=The Straight Dope |date=12 May 2000}}
* {{cite book |last=Brunvand |first=Jan Harold |title=Encyclopedia of Urban Legends, Volume 1 |date=2012 |edition=Updated and expanded |publisher=ABC-Clio |publication-place=Santa Barbara, Calif. |isbn=978-1-59-884720-8 |page=243 |chapter=Folk etymologies |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VcHSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT300 |via=Google Books}}
* {{cite news |last=Clements |first=Warren |title=No clear rule of thumb |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/no-clear-rule-of-thumb/article752047/ |work=The Globe and Mail |date=30 July 2003 |page=R2 |issn=0319-0714 |location=Toronto |url-access=limited}}
* {{cite web |author1=Freyd, Jennifer |author2=Johnson, JQ |title=Commentary: Domestic Violence, Folk Etymologies, & 'Rule of Thumb' |url=http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/jjf/essays/ruleofthumb.html |publisher=University of Oregon; Department of Psychology |date=1998}}
* {{cite web |last1=Quinion |first1=Michael |title=Rule of thumb |url=http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-rul1.htm |website=World Wide Words |date=13 November 1999}}
* {{cite report |title=Under the Rule of Thumb: Battered Women and the Administration of Justice |publisher=United States Commission on Civil Rights |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED213812 |format=PDF |date=January 1982 |via=[[ERIC]] |id=ED213812 |last1=Gerebenics |first1=Gail |last2=Others |first2=And }}
* {{cite book |last1=Wallace |first1=Harvey |last2=Roberson |first2=Cliff |title=Family Violence: Legal, Medical, and Social Perspectives |date=2014 |publisher=Pearson Education |location=Boston, Mass. |isbn=978-0-205-91392-3 |pages=221–222 |edition=7th |url=https://archive.org/details/familyviolencele0000wall/page/221/mode/1up?view=theater |url-access=registration |via=the Internet Archive}}

== External links ==
{{wiktionary inline}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rule Of Thumb}}
[[Category:English phrases]]
[[Category:Rules of thumb| ]]

Rule of thumb - Revision history

RS-485: Imported from Wikipedia (overwrite)