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Subject:Re: Rule of thumb From:Romay Jean Sitze <rositze -at- NMSU -dot- EDU> Date:Fri, 17 Nov 1995 19:04:37 -0700
On Fri, 17 Nov 1995, Wolf Lahti wrote:
> >The most widely accepted origins of this deals with carpentry. The distance
> >between the tip of the thumb and the first joint on an adult man is about one
> >inch. Carpenters have used that in past times as their ruler for rough
> >measurement, ergo RULE of thumb.
> >
> My hands are fairly typically adult male, and the WIDTH of my thumb at the
> joint is about an inch. The length from tip to first joint is more like an
> inch and a half.
To add to Wolf's comments, I'm an adult female with average size hands.
My thumb is almost exactly 1-1/4 inches long. To use this joint as a
measure of one inch, one would have to be a rather small person.
