Another "Side Bar" discussion from the Funeral Rites thread

... cut short before his time.Is this an Australianism; I've not encountered it before? I know of "cut down in his prime (http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/cut-me-down-in-my-prime.236913/)". and then there's Psalm 89:45 (http://biblehub.com/psalms/89-45.htm) "You have cut short the days of his youth" - and of course "caught short (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/caught+short)'. But "cut short before his time"?

[lonelywombat]

Not sure if it is only local

cut down in the prime [of his life!}

Not sure if it is only local

cut down in the prime [of his life!}If only that was what you had written

[thaiguest]

Not sure if it is only local

cut down in the prime [of his life!}If only that was what you had written

The man was tragically murdered - what matters an idiom or two written in haste? What a crowd of heartless f-cks inhabit this space!

[francois]

Amen to that, brother!

Not sure if it is only local

cut down in the prime [of his life!}If only that was what you had writtenWhat matters an idiom or two written in haste?!
Oh lonely wrote in haste did he? That's a fresh piece of information and puts an entirely different complexion on it

[francois]

What is wrong with the expression,"cut short before his time"? This expression is not new and has appeared previously in literature.



https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=c ... 22&start=0 (https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1CAACAG_enUS601US601&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=%22cut+short+before+his+time+%22&start=0)

Quoting other people who misuse the English language Francois doesn't make the original mistake even less of a mistake. They may, after all, be Americans - for whom English is forever a foreign language

[Manforallseasons]

Quoting other people who misuse the English language Francois doesn't make the original mistake even less of a mistake. They may, after all, be Americans - for whom English is forever a foreign language

http://youtu.be/t8zhp699FXg

[youtube:3ps9r3es]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8zhp699FXg[/youtube:3ps9r3es]

[lonelywombat]

The man was tragically murdered - what matters an idiom or two written in haste? What a crowd of heartless f-cks inhabit this space!


Amen to that, brother!


What is wrong with the expression,"cut short before his time"? This expression is not new and has appeared previously in literature.
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=c ... 22&start=0 (https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1CAACAG_enUS601US601&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=%22cut+short+before+his+time+%22&start=0)

Quoting other people who misuse the English language Francois doesn't make the original mistake even less of a mistake. They may, after all, be Americans - for whom English is forever a foreign language

It seems a pity that the grammar nazis want to take over this tribute for Colin Gardiner. Tragic they want to interfere everywhere

[francois]

Quoting other people who misuse the English language Francois doesn't make the original mistake even less of a mistake. They may, after all, be Americans - for whom English is forever a foreign language

Good thing you weren't around in Elizabethan times as the Guardian of the English Language, poor Willy Shakespeare would never had a chance to coin all his phrases and idioms. Regarding the Queen's English, this is the short and long of it, your comments are much ado about nothing. #:-s

[Smiles]

I haven't witnessed such a brew haha (sp? but appropriate) over a stiff since Wowpow bowed out ... and many actually knew him.
Poor old Lonely still doesn't get that message boards going off tangent is a normal happening around here and often hilarious. And especially when LW starts one. May Off-Topic never ~ unlike Mr Colin ~ die!
I do agree though that Kommietariat is a major board tight ass. But vaguely loveable, like a teddy bear.

[Rogie]

I'd like to suggest changing the spelling of sidebar (as in Another sidebar discussion) to Side Bar, or even Saloon Bar. That should encourage a few people to get nicely worked up.

More from the Bard by Ben (no, not Dover) Zimmer:

If It's "All Greek To You," Blame Monks And Shakespeare

The news coming out of Greece these days can be downright perplexing, leading many in the news media to recycle the old phrase, "It's all Greek to me." I talked to NPR's Weekend All Things Considered about the origin of the expression.

Shakespeare gets a lot of the credit for popularizing the phrase thanks to his use of it in his play Julius Caesar, first performed in 1599. In it, the blunt-speaking character Casca dismisses the speech of Cicero, who was a learned scholar in Greek:

Cassius: Did Cicero say any thing?
Casca: Ay, he spoke Greek.
Cassius: To what effect?
Casca: Nay, an I tell you that, IтАЩll neтАЩer look you iтАЩ the face again: but those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads; but, for mine own part, it was Greek to me.

More heavenly waffle at: https://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/word ... akespeare/ (https://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/if-its-all-greek-to-you-blame-monks-and-shakespeare/)

[thaiguest]

Quoting other people who misuse the English language Francois doesn't make the original mistake even less of a mistake. They may, after all, be Americans - for whom English is forever a foreign language

Good thing you weren't around in Elizabethan times as the Guardian of the English Language, poor Willy Shakespeare would never had a chance to coin all his phrases and idioms. Regarding the Queen's English, this is the short and long of it, your comments are much ado about nothing. #:-s

Willy the gay estranged father and husband would never have seen himself as the "guardian" of the english language.
He was the day-to-day owner of the Globe at a time of optimum tolerance and creativity ie "The Elizabethan/Jacobean " age.
LONG LIVE THE BARD!

Good thing you weren't around in Elizabethan times as the Guardian of the English Language, poor Willy Shakespeare would never had a chance to coin all his phrases and idioms.
Fresh information about lonelywombat keeps piling up, doesn't it. First we find he wrote his original comment in haste (thaiguest), now that he's the Shakespeare of our age. I generally take the Occam's Razor approach in these circumstances which here means LW made an illiterate mistake

Casca: Nay, an I tell you that, IтАЩll neтАЩer look you iтАЩ the face again: but those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads; but, for mine own part, it was Greek to me
Precisely my point Rogie and an apposite quotation

If how you express yourself gets in the way of what you are saying, your communication is thereby less effective