1875 English - Wordsmith.org

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#2502 - 05/17/00 12:34 PM 1875 English
Jackie Carpal Tunnel Registered: 03/15/00 Posts: 11578 Loc: Louisville, Kentucky	During 1999 and 2000, our newspaper has been reprinting articles from the past. There is a sentence in today's that I cannot comprehend. It is: "It was made up of every element; but place aux dames et demoiselles before the pen shall treat of another feature." The article was about the running of the first Kentucky Derby. Immediately preceding the sentence was an estimate of the crowd's numbers. Immediately following the sentence, and ending the article, was, "It is much, indeed, when attention and admiration mey be diverted from the prime object which has gathered a great assemblage together, but not the Derby itself, with its absorbing interest and excitement, will linger so long in the minds of the spectator there." WHEW!! With difficulty, I navigated (I think) the meaning of the ending sentence, but that other one confounds me. I know that aux is the French plural for 'at the' or 'to the', but even so I don't get what the writer means. I would appreciate anyone's suggestions on this.
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#2503 - 05/17/00 06:03 PM Re: 1875 English
lusy member Registered: 03/16/00 Posts: 140 Loc: Melbourne, Australia	It's certainly a weird sentence, Jackie, but could we be looking at a typo here? "Place" instead of "pace", the latter having been used in the sense of "by your leave"? The whole sentence could then perhaps be paraphrased as: "The large crowd was made up of every element, but I must beg the pardon of the (beautiful) ladies, before I write of anything else."
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#2504 - 05/18/00 09:06 AM Re: 1875 English
Jackie Carpal Tunnel Registered: 03/15/00 Posts: 11578 Loc: Louisville, Kentucky	Sounds good to me, Lusy, thanks. Our newspaper had "place"--no way to tell if that was an old or new typo. Besides the fact that I often actually learn something, the flowery, convoluted sentences in these older articles fascinate me as I compare them to the typical usage of today.
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