[TheForge] Rule of thumb (was Guesstamating)

[Roy Wilson]

On Fri, 29 Mar 2002 08:52:47 -0600, Dave Brown wrote:

>The "largest size rod" is in the realm of legend.  There is no known 
>factual reference to this.  Use Google, or other search engine, and enter 
>"rule of thumb" (with the quotation marks) and you will get more references 
>than you need for this.  As I said earlier, the only conclusion is that the 
>source of this phrase is clearly unclear.

  I like the biblical-times one.  It's something I could easily see
some Aramaic or Persian gymnosophist coming up with and having
hundreds of people believe.

  As to Google and such, YES, you'll find a bazillion debunking
links - to a dozen or so Snopes-like sites.  Who tend to reference
each other as well.

  Who does *their* error checking?

  Someone just mentioned that Snopes or Debunk stated that it was a
myth and didn't come into use until the 1950's.  I KNOW that's
wrong, because I've seen the phrase used in books printed between
1880 and 1910.  Where did they get the 50's date from?

  It all comes down to "sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?", which
almost nobody ever correctly attributes - it was FIRST used in
Juvenal's _Satires_.

  Sorry for the rant, I just hate it when some source is given as
the definitive last word "just because".



Roy Wilson
General Operations Director
Zanzibar Internet Land Line Administrator

<Roy@Wilson-Eclectics.com>