A rule of thumb is a principle with broad application that is not intended to be strictly accurate or reliable for every situation. It is an easily learned and easily applied procedure for approximately calculating or recalling some value, or for making some determination. Compare this to heuristic, a similar concept used in mathematical discourse, psychology, and computer science, particularly in algorithm design.
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." The phrase also exists in other languages, for example Italian "Regola del pollice", Swedish tumregel, Norwegian and Danish tommelfingerregel, sometimes in the variant "rule of fist", for example Finnish nyrkkisääntö, Estonian rusikareegel, German Faustregel and Pi mal Daumen, Hungarian ökölszabály or Dutch vuistregel, as well as in Turkish parmak hesabı, and in Hebrew "כלל אצבע" (rule of finger) and in Persian "قاعده سرانگشتی," which is translated as finger tip's rule. This suggests that it has some antiquity, and does not originate in specifically Germanic language culture.
You've got a a nerve breaking everyone to feed a selfish
urge. Politically supported, morally aborted. Growing not
in a stature but just plain dumb, in your quest for No.
1. Self-infatuated, this beast that you've created is
spreading like a plague. Won't let me see what I want to
see, cover the screen of my TV. Everything, take
everything. Just call it a way of getting through your
day. Smash it up, tear it down, kick in the walls, invad
my town. Nothing has worth unless there is something in
it for you. My instant reaction is of hate at the others
who just can't stand to let you go. I've seen your love
letters. They're all addressed at me and a million other
potential suckers. Multiple kisses, smiling faces, bands
playing my tune. Calling me up on the phone, do you think
that I'd want to talk to you in the state you're in? But
I will resist. I don't think i can take much more of
this. A rule of thumb: I stick of gum should see me
through this one: - my bleak young kid disknowledge (TM)
- bouts of anger/ignorance - this stupid song.
A rule of thumb is a principle with broad application that is not intended to be strictly accurate or reliable for every situation. It is an easily learned and easily applied procedure for approximately calculating or recalling some value, or for making some determination. Compare this to heuristic, a similar concept used in mathematical discourse, psychology, and computer science, particularly in algorithm design.
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." The phrase also exists in other languages, for example Italian "Regola del pollice", Swedish tumregel, Norwegian and Danish tommelfingerregel, sometimes in the variant "rule of fist", for example Finnish nyrkkisääntö, Estonian rusikareegel, German Faustregel and Pi mal Daumen, Hungarian ökölszabály or Dutch vuistregel, as well as in Turkish parmak hesabı, and in Hebrew "כלל אצבע" (rule of finger) and in Persian "قاعده سرانگشتی," which is translated as finger tip's rule. This suggests that it has some antiquity, and does not originate in specifically Germanic language culture.
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