Re: Rule of thumb

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.

RoMay Sitze, rositze -at- nmsu -dot- edu


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