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#58531 02/25/02 02:47 PM
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wwh Offline
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"I do not like thee, Doctor Fell
The reason why I cannot tell.
But this I know, I know full well
I do not like thee, Doctor Fell.

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/juliet.turner/songs/drfell.htm


#58532 02/25/02 03:57 PM
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This was in the Quinion citation. It's obsolete for fur trader. Did fur used to be fell?

Also, I did not know the meaning of fey, as given in the Straight Dope site. I'd always thought it did mean otherworldly, but not particularly associated with death.

And, speaking of sayings, I wrote to someone that I had cooked "up a storm" the other day. My mother always used that expression. Is this common in other places, to mean "a lot"? Hmm, come to think of it, it usually means to do a lot in one fell swoop!


#58533 02/25/02 04:39 PM
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Funny, I'd always thought that it was Catullus. Must have been thrown in by the teacher after Odi et Amo, hence the confusion.

http://www.latinteach.com/latinlit.html


#58534 02/25/02 04:40 PM
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Dear Jackie: "cooking up a storm" I believe owes its origin to superstition of sailors that they could induce favorable winds by suitable rituals which took many forms. And careless behaviour could prevent desired weather from coming.


#58535 02/25/02 07:20 PM
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Birds of prey can swoop, but I seem to remember that the falconers call it a "stoop". I have a couple times seen peregrine falcons stoop on a pigeon, with an explosion of feathers awesome to behold. And I remember Oliver Goldsmith's "She Stoops to Conquer" but never knew in what sense the word was used in the title. I invite members to express opinions on that while I finish reading the play to find out.


#58536 02/25/02 07:48 PM
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#58537 02/25/02 08:17 PM
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ah, but do they call themselves fellmongers, or fur dealers? or taxidermist? tanners? or what?




#58538 02/25/02 08:23 PM
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#58539 02/25/02 08:27 PM
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Okay! now will some one tell me what slipe wools are?


#58540 02/25/02 08:39 PM
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