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The exact origin of the phrase is uncertain. [4] Its earliest (1685) appearance in print comes from a posthumously published collection of sermons by Scottish preacher 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 and Rule."
[5] [6] In 1996, the Jargon File entry on Hanlon's Razor noted the existence of the phrase in Heinlein's novella, with speculation that Hanlon's Razor might be a corruption of "Heinlein's Razor". [2] The link to Murphy's law was described in a pair of 2001 blog entries by Quentin Stafford-Fraser , citing emails from Joseph E. Bigler.
Either way, these variations would have been derived from the Indo-European root word -peuk, meaning "to prick". [120] The expression "rule of thumb" did not originate from an English law allowing a man to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb, and there is no evidence that such a law ever existed. [122]
The word's true origin is unknown, but it existed in the Middle Scots period. [32] [33] News: The word news has been claimed to be an acronym of the four cardinal directions (north, east, west, and south). However, old spellings of the word varied widely (e.g., newesse, newis, nevis, neus, newys, niewes, newis, nues, etc.).
The alternative origin given is that the word "prove" is used in the archaic sense of "test", [3] a reading advocated, for example, by a 1918 Detroit News style guide: The exception proves the rule is a phrase that arises from ignorance, though common to good writers. The original word was preuves, which did not mean proves but tests. [4]
“Now, I want to explain that in politics a good rule of thumb is: Don’t say you want to do anything like Hitler,” Obama told the crowd. “That’s just good political advice, but it is ...
The sharp surge of N-word usage on X likely didn't make the platform feel any safer to Black users, either. What remains true, though: Black Twitter has forged an unbreakable community.
The jingles you'll never remember to forget, the cartoon characters that you'll always recognize: Whether you're a fan of McDonald's or not, it's impossible to not know (and realistically, love ...