[AlArchie]

Well, you're right about the time period, Susan, but this was part of the English monarchy's decision. The King of England had a terrible lisp, and at that time there was a great debate going on in the country over whether the king had the final say in matters of state or if a democratically elected parliament would have oversight.

In his address to the people, the king stated quite affirmatively. "Wook, you can have thith countwy wun pwoperwy by the woyal famiwy or by a bunch of ewected idiots. Ith a matter of wule of one, or wule of thumb."

Hang in there.....better days a commin'!

Al

[Irish]

(( This thread has been moved form Relief Carving and began with the following posting:

FYI - Do you know where the term Rule of Thumb originated? Until the mid to late 1800's a man had the legal right to beat his wife with a stick as long as it was no thicker then his thumb. If charges were brought against him all he had to do was bring the stick to court to prove his innocence.))

Oh! Jeezzooflip, Al! Can I copy that one and paste it in my daily journals ... way too good!

Anita, I did not mean to high jack your thread, my apologizes. But did you know that it is still illegal one of our closest towns, Westminster, to spit on the sidewalk ... it gets you jail time ... it's still on the books ... and it has been used in recent memory to detain people until they can find some stronger charge.

Susan

[Anita]

Thank you Irish that was a great help. Do you live in Colorado?

[Irish]

Hey Anita, Hope the posting helped! Are you going to post what you are getting ready to carve?

No, we're in Maryland, out in what use to be the boonies except that they are now building $1,000,000 homes across from us in the old corn field ... AH! The contractor was able to divide 15 acres into 11 home sites on a small piece of a farm that could date it's history in ownership by one family since the 1790's.

Al may be very right about the British history behind the Rule of Thumb. But the law that allows/ed a man to beat his wife with a stick in Maryland was called 'the Rule of Thumb' and around 1975 was still on the books! I had a Senior High class that assigned a look into archaic and out dated laws. Some of them were real dizzies.

In our town, Mt. Airy, you can still tie your horse to the parking meters but you can't leave him unattended for more then an hour without having left a bucket of food and water.

Grin - Susan

[Ashbys]

Susan,

Theres room for a horse in the city limits ? I mean I heard Mt. Airy was a one hose town but I allways thought it was a pony. I mean a full grown horse couldn't have it's nose and tail in the town limits at the same time !



rofl
Ash

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Mt Airy,,,,is that where Andy and Opie and Aunt B are ?

[Irish]

Grummble ... grumble .... We've grown Garry! Where my beautiful little one pony town had all of one employee, the mayor/sheriff/street sweeper, and we were less then a speck on the map Mt. Airy is one of the fastest growing towns in the state. AHHH! Town has gotten so big that the major was forced to close down the town's community manure pile because of the city folk complaints about the flies.

Hi_Ho, check your maps! Opie was a North Carolinian ... I'm a Northern Merlinder. See ya can always spot the newcomers as they call our beautiful state MerryLand.

Susan

[AlArchie]

Copy and post away, Susan! And did you know it's illegal to eat chicken on the main street in Bessemer? But that's a whole nudder tale!

There's a town down the line a ways from here (Tula) that's so small you enter and leave at the same time.

Al

[Irish]

I'll ask BobD this morning to move a copy of this thread to Off Topics ... ... then we can all have a blast pickinon Susan about 'How small is Mt. Airy?"

Al, I think you have a typo. I don't want to sound like the spelling police but I think you meant to type " a whole udder tail".

Susan

[AlArchie]

OK, maybe I did misspell......but here's the whole "Tail"......please bear with me.

Years back I was working night shift (2:00 AM) and we spotted a guy getting ready to take a whizz on the side of the local Ford dealership. We hit him with the spotlight and told him to find a more appropriate place to take care of business. (well, not exactly in those words, but you get the picture). This is two blocks from the Sheriff's office, where we were heading for coffee (and donuts). Before we got the first cup poured a call came in that there was someone going through cars in the Ford dealer's lot. Well, two deputies took off out and headed right there. We went around the block and came in the back way, but by then the sheriffs had the idiot out in the middle of US concreter highway #2, trying to get him out of the road.

This guy had been to the dumpster behind the restaurant across the street and had scarfed up the remanants of some fried chicken, which he was determindely munching on while arguing with the sheriff deputies. Seeing as they were getting nowhere with him, I went and told him he was under arrest for disorderly. Of course he wanted to know how he was disorderly, so I told him he was drunk, standing on the center line of a major thorofare arguing with the police (disorderly). He maintained that this was not disorderly so I finally told him he was under arrest for "Eating Chicken on the Main Street of Bessemer". For some reason,he accepted this and off we went to the jail.

Next morning I arraigned the guy and the judge told him he was charged with disorderly conduct and how did he plead.

"Yer Honner, I wasn't charged with disorderly, I was charged with Eating Chicken on the Main Street of Bessemer".

Well, the judge asked...."Were you eating chicken on the main street of Bessemer?" To which the guy says YEP!

Guilty! 10 days in Jail. (of course the judge had the full report in front of him)

To this day, this character tells folks about how he was arrested for eating chicken on the Main street of Bessemer.

Al