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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Agreed, but Sulla wasn't as "public" in his proscriptions as Sejanus. And besides, the late Republican period gets NO airtime at all, does it? Well, not until 55BC, anyway.
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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I thought of this thread after reading a Washington Post article, which noted that John Kerry "accused the administration of giving short shift to the nation's fighting forces..."
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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From AHD:
short shrift
NOUN: 1. Summary, careless treatment; scant attention: These annoying memos will get short shrift from the boss. 2. Quick work. 3a. A short respite, as from death. b. The brief time before execution granted a condemned prisoner for confession and absolution.
WORD HISTORY: To be given short shrift is not the blessing it once was. The source of our verb shrive (shrove, shriven) and noun shrift, which have technical meanings from ecclesiastical Latin, is Classical Latin scrbere, “to write.” Shrive comes from the Old English verb scrfan, “to decree, decree after judgment, impose a penance upon (a penitent), hear the confession of.” The past participle of scrfan is scrifen, our shriven. The noun shrift, “penance; absolution,” comes from Old English scrift with the same meaning, which comes from scrptus, the perfect passive participle of scrbere, and means “what is written,” or, to use the Latin word, “what is prescribed.” Theologians and confessors viewed the sacrament of penance as a prescription that cured a moral illness. In early medieval times penances were long and arduous—lengthy pilgrimages and even lifelong exile were not uncommon—and had to be performed before absolution, not after as today. However, less demanding penances could be given in extreme situations; short shrift was a brief penance given to a person condemned to death so that absolution could be granted before execution.
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addict
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addict
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some of the different ways we use "scribe". Circumscribe, proscribe, describe--please list more.
Does "signature" qualify as an addition to your list, Jackie?
A signature is "one's name as written by oneself" according to the dictionary.
Looks like the gnats had a hand in that history as well.
Heck, we deserve to have a "Gnats History Month". What do you say?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Beware lest you become history, grapho.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dr. Bill, I think you missed the significance of Slithy's post: "accused the administration of giving short shift to the nation's fighting forces..." To me, short shift would be a baby doll nightie  or the boss telling you to go home after you'd only been there for an hour or two...or barely pausing between second and third gear...
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Given Kerry's record of trying to screw the Pentagon whenever he could, he would approve "short shrift" for
the military. I didn't want to start political discussion.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Good, then let's not. I think Slithy and you can chime in anytime, ST was questioning the use of short shift when they really should have used short shrift, and in the Washington Post no less! I know your eyes aren't what they used to be, Dr. Bill, and I thought you might not have noticed the shift/shrift shift. I was just trying to drag this back to words  .
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Beware lest you become history, grapho.There is no escape from a gnat In time you will have to learn that Your wits will unwit you Your feet will defeat you 'Cause a gnat is above all of that. 
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear consuelo: I didn't notice the typo. But slithy toves
didn't give me a clue that he was aware of the typo.
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