I've remembered what the urban myth that was repeated as fact on last night's show was.

It was the origin of the phrase "rule of thumb". It is often repeated that in the 17th (or 16th or 18th or any other) century the law in England allowed a man to beat his wife provided that the rod was no thicker than his thumb. Hence, rule of thumb. There is absolutely no credible evidence for this. I know of no reliable linguist who gives it a moment's credence.

here are a couple of commentaries on it.

http://www.word-detective.com/back-n.html#rulothumb

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-rul1.htm

Wow, that's amazing, Bob, especially when the myth is so easily debunked by Quinion. Wouldn't you think they would have checked it out?

I watched the repeat last night and heard that authoritative-sounding claim. I learnt the term many years ago from my woodwork master who showed us how to mark out a straight line on the edge of a piece of word using a "thumbgauge". He suggested that this was where the term "rule of thumb" came from.

I'd be inclined to write to the Beeb were it not for the fact that, in my experience, they never answer letters (without doubt one of the Beeb's worst faults).

Well, Richard, to support your claim about the BBC, they haven't answered my question where I asked for the details of their statistics on teen alcoholism. That is annoying. I suspect if I wrote an actual letter, they'd answer. However, the importance of my question was more an email one, rather than a pencil and paper importance.

I have written to the Beeb, both traditionally and by email, several times. I only once received a reply after I had chased my email half a dozen times. The Beeb was doing a programme on cars and wanted owners of Rolls-Royces and VW Beetles to contact them. At that time I owned an example of each (the Beetle being one of the last ever made)and I felt that I was a prime candidate for inclusion. All I received was a curt response to say that my offer was being considered. I heard no more.

When the programme was finally aired they had used the very well-known and often shown 1947 Beetle imported by Colborne-Baber. They doubtless had their reasons for re-using this familiar vehicle but they never shared them with me.

As I said, a good broadcasting organisation but rotten correspondents.