====== 'Rule of Thumb' expression etymology ======

Meaning //"...an easily learned and easily applied procedure for approximately calculating or recalling some value, or for making some determination."//

>__"The exact origin of the phrase is uncertain.__The earliest known citation comes from J. Durham’s //Heaven upon Earth//, 1685, ii. 217: //"Many profest Christians are like to foolish builders, who build by guess, and by rule of thumb."//\\ Sir William Hope wrote in his //The Compleat Fencing Master//, 1692: "//What he doth, he doth by rule of Thumb, and not by Art."// James Kelly's //The Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs//, 1721, pg 257, includes: //"No Rule so good as Rule of Thumb, if it hit."//
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>See : [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thumb|Wikipedia]]