402: rubric Jan 14, 2015

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'Rubric' is often thought of as a set of criteria, but it has a more important meaning as well. It came to English several centuries ago as 'rubrish' which originally denoted the heading of a document, which was written in red as to stand out. This ultimately comes from the Latin word, "rubrica terra" meaning ‘red earth' since clay would be used as a writing material.

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