My "Rule of Thumb"

Back in the day, people would use "rule of thumb" to measure distances since the your thumb is approximately the size of an inch. Not really an exact measurement but it worked for back in the day, which also explains why my house bathroom door handle is like a foot lower than normal. However, as the years went on, this common phrase became a bit twisted and came to mean a few other things...

SOMEHOW during the 1800's, people decided to use this phrase to mean "a husband can beat his wife with a stick no wider than his thumb". This was never an "official" law but it has many examples being used, even in court cases in 1868 and 1874. Pretty bad but it's a part of history. There's even this cute cartoon with "Judge Thumb" giving sticks out as proof from 1782:


You know what my rule of thumb is in this regard?

DON'T BEAT YOUR WIFE

It's kind of ridiculous in general that this was an assumed acceptable thing back in the day. There's still plenty of cases of spousal abuse, but thankfully in America, there are repercussions in place... Like jail. Yay for jail!