Definition
An act of bias or a tactic for cheating which creates a situation that unfairly benefits one party involved in an interaction.
Origins
An allusion to a butcher who cheats customers by surreptitiously using a thumb to apply extra pressure to the scale when weighing meat to calculate the price of a sale.
In Context
- "I'll try to give an impartial account without putting my thumb on the scale."
- "[E]ven to characterize these cases as affirmative action is misleading. What critics often present as a thumb on the scale for "less qualified" individuals may in fact reflect only necessary adjustments in the way the scale is calibrated."
- "Ron Kirk, the US trade representative, accused Beijing of putting a "giant thumb on the scale" by restricting exports of commodities including silicon, coke and zinc, to give Chinese manufacturers an unfair advantage."
- ""The data show that the television campaign ads this money buys put a thumb on the scale in criminal cases, and undermine the promise of equal justice.""