Random memory: _rule_ "ruler" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill CIV (US)]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

I don't think "rule" for "ruler" is limited to Southern or Black
English.  See "slide rule", machinist's rule, etc.

http://www.starrett.com/metrology/metrology-products/precision-measuring
-tools/precision-rules-straight-edges-parallels




> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Wilson Gray
> Sent: Wednesday, July 03, 2013 2:32 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Random memory: _rule_ "ruler"
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
---------------
> --------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Random memory: _rule_ "ruler"
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> When I was in grade school, we called the ordinary foot-rulets that we
> used "rules." This was (is? also the usual BE word. The trivial amount
> of interest lies in the fact that these rulers were Coca-Cola gimmes.
> On the back of each ruler was the "Coca-Cola" logo and the words:
>
> A GOOD RULE
> Do unto others as ye would have them do unto you
>
> My impression is that this was meant as a pun - both the tool and the
> adage are "good rules" - and, given that Co-Cola is a Southern
company,
> perhaps this "rule" instead of "ruler" was (is?) a Southern regional
> use and not just a black thing. This use of "rule" for "ruler" isn't
in
> DARE. But,
>
> Youneverknow.
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org