Talk:to a T

hypothesis
T squares and squares were used by masons since the archaic period.

Master Masons in medieval Europe would etch their full size plans on flag stones, using these tools, as a template for Apprentice Masons to measure their work against

Surely it stands to reason that to attest the accuracy of a template it would be acclaimed as being 'to a T'.

I can see this as being widely and frequently used down the ages. However, due to its confinement within a specialist industry, as it leaked into wider society barely anyone would know first hand of its true origins and those that did thought nothing of it as it was so commonplace to them.

I see no other plausible explanation.

85.255.233.32 09:54, 24 August 2020 (UTC)


 * The article list several other plausible explanations. However, plausibility is not the bar that needs to be passed in etymology, but instead evidence for or against a given hypothesis, which is scant in this case. Arlo Barnes (talk) 19:26, 12 May 2021 (UTC)

better hypothesis
It might be related to "dotting the I's, crossing the T's", no? It makes much more sense than the ones listed in the etymology, which are pretty weak. --85.104.55.48 09:51, 28 March 2023 (UTC)