A "coping saw" is a carpenter's doohickey in which a slim blade is stetched tightly across the open end of a U-shaped hand-held frame. It is used for cutting small things out of wood and for humbling the operator in a visible and lasting way.

The etymology of this word is apparently derived in some inapparent way from the top course of a masonry wall -- called a "coping" -- which is slanted to cause rainwater to run off. One doubts that such a course of bricks or stones was ever cut with a coping saw. The etymology of "coping" in the brick-wall sense appears to derive from a liturgical vestment -- the cope -- which is a sort of clerical poncho, open in the front and joined with a fancy clasp. In that both masonry coping and the liturgical cope may be said to "cover" something -- be it a wall or a priest -- this makes a certain sense. But it gets one no closer to understanding how the lowly coping saw got its name.

Who will solve this riddle for the old padre?