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Subject:Rule Of Thumb From:Donald Eccles <Ironbrand -at- EWORLD -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 23 Nov 1995 15:17:50 -0800
In the book "Rules of Thumb" by Tom Parker, he mentions both the "thumb-inch"
theory and the "wood rod" theory of origin without favoring either.
I believe the answer is another question: "Do you have an optimistic or
pessimistic view of human nature?" The former would doubtless prefer the
inch theory and the latter would opt for the rod theory.
By the way, one of his rules of thumb is "About half the elements used in
writing are chosen by the writer; the rest are required by the structure of
the language. " Those contributing to the thread on dying punctuation marks
will. I feel confident, comment on it.
