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Old 01-10-2009, 03:52 PM   #30 (permalink)
Bebe
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: New Zealand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mkl View Post
That doesn't mean people didn't start recently (or within the last hundred years) referring to a new zealand law by that name, it just means the phrase "rule of thumb" did not START from a law about beating your wife. It is not the origin, it is something that came along afterward.

There are no credible sources that say this phrase came from beating your wife, and a ton (all of them that I could find) that say it wasn't.

And with that...a new phrase that applies ,
"to eat crow"
Nup. I'm not eating crow. I stand by my explanation. You looked it up on the internet, I learned it/taught it at university. I trust my sources more than I trust you or wikipedia.

Brings up an interesting point tho. We are debating probably unknown origins. Almost any ancient saying has an unknown origin - they are just guessed at really.
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