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The expression "scot free" usually means to escape payment or punishment. If it is derived from some notion about the frugality of the good people of Scotland, why isn't it capitalized? If it refers to the Dred Scott decision (in the sense that he escaped to freedom), why isn't it spelled with two t's?
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Carpal Tunnel
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It isn't capitalized because it has nothing to do with the Scottish people. It doesn't have two ts because it didn't have anything to do with Dred Scott (but then that wouldn't be a very likely source anyway if you remember the fate of the unlucky Mr. Scott). Check here: http://www.bartleby.com/61/73/S0157300.html
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Thanks, chum. Could be a short thread.
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but with many views...
I wonder about some of the statistics of the board: fewest replies/most views; highest percentage of views and replies, etc...
formerly known as etaoin...
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etaoin~
WHAT do you "wonder about some of the statistics of the board: fewest replies/most views; highest percentage of views and replies, etc..."?
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sorry, I guess it was an incomplete thought.. which particular thread has the highest number of views with the smallest number of replies, etc. that sort of thing. goofy, baseball-like statistics. 
formerly known as etaoin...
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>which particular thread has the highest number of views with the smallest number of replies, etc. that sort of thing. goofy, baseball-like statistics. Aaargh, that's torn it! You mentioned the "B" word, now Juan will be all over this thread like a rash. 
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While listening to the Seattle Mariners win both games of their double header today, we heard the announcer claim "Baseball fans love all kinds of statistics." My darling bride replied, "No, baseball ANNOUNCERS love all kinds of statistics." Perhaps the whole of baseball fandom may be divided into two parts: those who care which left-handed third baseman with an Hispanic surname and a college degree stole the most bases during his second year in the major leagues ... and those who don't.
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old hand
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>Perhaps the whole of baseball fandom may be divided into two parts: those who care which left-handed third baseman with an Hispanic surname and a college degree stole the most bases during his second year in the major leagues ... and those who don't.
A delightful obsession with such minutiae is the one thing that most closely unites baseball with the infinitely superior English game it devolved from. wyrd-sisters-e
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At the risk of contributing to a thread hijack, did baseball in fact "devolve" or evolve from cricket or was it conceived more or less on its own?
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I think he's talking about rounders, not cricket.
Bingley
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>At the risk of contributing to a thread hijack, did baseball in fact "devolve" or evolve from cricket or was it conceived more or less on its own? What fisherman cares where his bait comes from, as long as it gets a bite?
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Pooh-Bah
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Was there something fishy about baseball, then? I allus thought so! Rounders with hotdogs.
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the whole of baseball fandom may be divided into two parts
But: what percentage of left handed fans don't care about statistics in late innings with runners in scoring position and the home team fewer than three runs behind?
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"Aaargh, that's torn it! You mentioned the "B" word, now Juan will be all over this thread like a rash. "
Or like white on rice.
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Maybe he's just a cheap suit. The "scot" was a tax, wasn't it? So tax-free. The link's either broke or this proxy server's rejecting it. As it does so many, or threads with more than about 20 posts.
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Pooh-Bah
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Hi, and I'm chopped liver. Want some of that?
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Chopped liver=passing the mantle= Mickey Mantle!  See? there's just no way outta this once ya get me started! 
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Carpal Tunnel
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but with many views...
I wonder about some of the statistics of the board: fewest replies/most views; highest percentage of views and replies, etc...
Don't I recall something called the Stales Index? Surely it hasn't been that long ago...
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the Stales Index
The Stales Index was computed by dividing the number of Replies by the number of Views. A value of .1 or higher indicated a thread that had sufficient interest to warrant a look-see. Its main weakness was that you could get a thread with a high Stales Index that consisted of nothing but, say, Faldage and WhitmanO'Neill trading insults.
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which is often worth look-see.
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Stales Indexah, first time I've heard of such a number. guess I'll have to LIU. sometime. thanks!
formerly known as etaoin...
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My dear eta...if you look halfway down the "Phrases from Baseball" thread in the link I posted above, you'll see my Red Sox sentiments posted when I learned wow was a diehard fan of theirs.
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yeah, I caught that!
formerly known as etaoin...
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Red Sox sentiments
Ya gotta escuse him, eta, he lived a deprived childhood.
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Ya gotta escuse him, eta, he lived a deprived childhood.OTOH, Ernie Banks had a deprived adulthood. Guess why?
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deprived adulthood
They stopped with so many double headers?
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No, no, no, Faldo. Ol' Ernie "let's play two" Banks loved doubled-headers. There just seems to be a glaring omission on the resumé of one of the greatest players who ever lived is all. 
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Ol' Ernie "let's play two" Banks loved doubled-headers
I don't know anything about this person, but that sounds more like a depraved adulthood to me!
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>a glaring omission on the resumé of one of the greatest..
well, no championships--but we are talking about a 'cubbie' then.
-ron o.
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Normal transmission will be resumed when the participants stop speaking in tongues and address the congregation in English again.
Please accept our apologies for the lapse. It was purely unintentional, except for the deliberate bits.
And now I return you to the show ...
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Found this book again yesterday (cleaned out a cabinet), given to me by a good friend. It's called, "What's Under the Kilt?" I offer a factoid from its interior, although the cover also bears this phrase: "Warning: Do not take this book too seriously!" DID YOU KNOW? The words of exclamation, surprise or disgust "Great Scot!" originated in America. The words refer to General Winfield Scott (1786-1866)--possibly due to his notorious fussiness and pomposity as a presidential candidate.
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Could be a short thread
A thread is only as long as the yarn.
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Another opinion:
A Browser's Dictionary, by John Ciardi, published as A Common Reader Edition by The Akadine Press, 1980, doesn't approve of the allusion of the expression "Great Scott" to Winfield Scott. A Common Reader Edition indicates that "Great Scott" is derived from the German expression "Gruess Gott!" and that it has been an Americanism only since the 19th Century. This suggests a borrowing from the greetings exchanged by German Immigrants, their cordiality contributing to the exclamatiory sense of the American adaptation. [Capital Scot advisory: Several on-line searches trying various arrangements of the terms "Gruess Gott" and "Great Scott" yielded no results. Perhaps the print media are still ahead of us on this one?]
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It is a clear sign of the dementia which attends the onrush of years that I did not remember starting this thread a year ago and wondered, when I saw it come up on Q&A, who had played what sort of trick to get my name to appear as the proto-poster.
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my name to appear as the proto-poster
Sorry, Father Steve, but I reckon you must have proto-typed it...
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who had played what sort of trick to get my name to appear as the proto-poster?
A proto-imposter.
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Pooh-Bah
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A thread is only as long as the yarn.
In best, faldagian nit-picking mode, grapho, I have to say that the yarn is as long as the threads brom which it is made up.
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I said: In reply to:
Normal transmission will be resumed when the participants stop speaking in tongues and address the congregation in English again.
Please accept our apologies for the lapse. It was purely unintentional, except for the deliberate bits.
And now I return you to the show ...
Clearly all of the above has now occurred. Carry on, children!
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I have to say that the yarn is as long as the thread from which it is made up.
Technically, that's true, Rhub, but once a yarn becomes a yawn, it's a waste of thread.
Qualitatively, a thread is only as long as the yarn.
Quantitatively, it can yawn on long after the yarn is finished.
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In best, faldagian nit-picking mode
There's nothing wrong with a nit-picker, Rhub, as long as he sticks to his own knitting.
Actually, there is nothing wrong with a nit-picker who is helping to knit the knitting.
Too many nit-pickers want to unknit the knitting.
How many nits could a nit-picker knit if a nit-picker could learn knitting?
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as a KNITTER, i take umberage at the suggestion that i have lice (or as they are better known, cooties!) or that i spend time with cooties.-- i know that nit picking is endless task (and NYC, for one, has at least one professional nit picker, who hastens childrens return to school by clearing there hair of nits for a substantial fee.) but nit picking and knitting have nothing in common. (when knitters pick at their knitting, they either 'tink' (work backwards stitch by stitch to undo a mistake, or they FROG (Rip it, rip it, rip it!) back rows and rows of work to resolve a long past problem. But they never nit pick!
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when knitters pick at their knitting, they either 'tink' (work backwards stitch by stitch to undo amistake, or they FROG (Rip it, rip it, rip it!) back rows and rows of work to resolve a long past problem. But they never nit pick!
Then we need more tinkers and fewer Froggers around here,
de Troy.
Regardless, at the end of the day, the business of knitting should be about knitting.
Tinking should be an exception, not the rule.
When tinkers rule the roost, tinkers think tinking is thinking.
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Don't ever (leave) tinkers to chance.
TEd
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Don't ever (leave) tinkers to chance.
Dam the tinkers. If they go on strike, we'll get a frogger to fill the void.
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ooh, a double play (on words).
Ruthless.
TEd
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ooh, a double play (on words)
I'm just trying to say that voids (in the line-up) are easier to fill than empty seats (in the stadium).
If you want to grow the franchise, you have to enfranchise the audience.
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