The Rule of Thumb

Asherel is involved in a top secret sewing project, one which I have been forbidden to discuss in any detail. However, she did ask me how she could discern what 5/8ths inch was, since that is the size of the seams she needs to sew.
Being an exact and careful person, I answered ,"About the size of your thumbnail."
Asherel measured her thumbnail and informed me that no, in fact her thumbnail was only about 3/8ths of an inch.
"How about your thumb, to the first joint?"
"Actually," Asherel informed me, "As a rule of thumb that is usually about an inch."
That gave me a great "ah ha!" moment.
"That must be how the idiom 'rule of thumb' came about!" I cried.
"No," assured Asherel, the twelve year old with intense authority, "Actually that is derived from the days when a man was only allowed to beat his wife with an object no wider than his thumb." Some rule!
Asherel is correct in the prevalent notion that the "rule of thumb" referred to English Law in the 1600s relating to how men could chastise wives... however, in actuality, it never was a law, and the rule of thumb idiom likely did derive from some form of measurement using the thumb.

I love language, and another idiom that I have often wondered about is "happy as a clam". How would anyone know if a clam were happy? It is not as though they have highly developed brains. If fact, clams do not really even have a brain. They have cerebral "ganglion" which basically means a bunch of wires that fill the space that a clam brain would fill if a clam had a brain. So can something that is brainless be happy? Perhaps it is even the state of being brainless that allows happiness! I discovered that actually the full idiom is "happy as a clam at high tide" which is when clams have the fewest predators about and are least likely to die. How they know that without a brain is almost more mind boggling than how they are happy without a brain.

Of course, my Bible study this morning was about the power of the Word. Not just any words, naturally, but the spoken word of revelation, of God Himself. The study reminded me that the Word is simple and clear to those whose heart is open to receive it. I can relate to that. Before becoming a believer, I had read the Bible multiple times, and it was just a collection of stories that stretched any sane person's credulity. It was not until I told God to let me understand, that even in my great depth of doubt, I would believe, that the Word made sense. It seems oxymoronic that in surrender there would be victory, understanding only with the faith to understand. But that is not any stranger than a clam without a brain knowing it is happy and safe.
PS- I have willingly ended here so those of you with cynical and sarcastic natures can make a parallel about a brainless clam and my faith.... but that is not the point, and if you will use your cerebral ganglion you will know it.....