On Wed, 20 Sep 2000, Valery Rees wrote:
> The reason why 'pouce' means both 'thumb' and 'inch' is that you will find
> the top joint of nearly everybody's thumbs measures exactly an inch. Or so
> we were taught in school needlework lessons 40 years ago. It was true for
> all of us, teenage girls, no matter what our height. Whether it also applies
> to men, I have never thought to check! But to define an inch as 'a length of
> about 2.5 cm' always seems to me rather sad, as the imperial measures were,
> I believe, all based on natural phenomena.
Metric measurements are also based on nature -- on the meridian of the
earth (1 m. was originally defined as 1/40-millionth part of the meridian)
As for the top joint of men's thumbs, I could not help but submit to
temptation and measured mine ... 1.5 inches ... I guess the "rule of
thumb" does not apply to men ;-)
Cheers,
Konrad Eisenbichler
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