answer:
Overall, there doesn't seem to be one concrete answer on this that everyone agrees on, but the following references might shed some light on it for you...
Freyd, J. & Johnson J.Q. (1998). Commentary: Domestic Violence, Folk Etymologies, & "Rule of Thumb". Retrieved May 8, 2008, from http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/essays/ruleofthumb.html
- This essay discusses the differences in opinion on the legal history of the term "rule of thumb".
According to:
Service, N. N. (1994, July 26). Word experts overrule; feminists on 'rule of thumb'. Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), pp. 9E.
- "But the phrase 'rule of thumb,' as it turns out, has more to do with carpentry and beer-making than domestic violence.
Those who attributed the phrase to an old rule of law that supposedly condoned wife-beating are having second thoughts. The latest capitulation came a few days ago, when Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who often invoked the phrase when talking about domestic violence, started to use it again during a news conference outside the Capitol, then stopped midsentence. He explained that Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., had told him the background of the phrase was 'apocryphal.' Which is a politician's way of saying something is not true."
From:
Feminists' facts challenge questionable, amount to a backlash.(1994, June 20). The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), pp. B06.
