Kakistocracy.
I wonder why!?
I wonder why!?
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Tough one, Dave ...Originally posted by Dave2002 View PostIt isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world. -
I'm relieved (I think) to discover that it doesn't mean rule by the cast of 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum'.Originally posted by french frank View PostComment
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Careful now ...Originally posted by LMcD View PostIt isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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....Dorothea: "I am afraid Rev Casaubon is in the kakistry - conjuring the election of the kakistocrats...."bong chingComment
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It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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Yesterday I came across Harridan, presumably horsemeat (not in the OED). The Revd. James Woodforde had it for dinner one day in1798 and described it as 'neither mutton nor lamb. ' He resolved not to have it again.Comment
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In what context was the word used - the meaning I would associate with it is entirely different!Originally posted by smittims View PostComment
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I was sufficiently intrigued by Harridan to download Parson Woodforde's Diary - the copy which had been in Rudyard Kipling's library has been scanned into the "Internet Archive". I didn't find the reference in 1798 but that was because I was skim-reading - can Smittims supply the date? It would be most unlikely to have been horsemeat, as there was a general taboo against eating horses in England, certainly until later in the 19th century. Doing so was seen as a sign of desperation, indicative of famine. I doubt if Woodforde had ever experienced famine, if the consumtion recorded in his diaries is any guide!Comment
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'September 20, 1798: ... Dinner to day, a foreQr. of Harridan, neither Mutton nor Lamb, Very poor, insipid eating indeed - No more of such kind.'
I deduced horsemeat from the OED and Onions (Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology) allusion to the french haridelle : 'an old jade of a horse'.
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1.) I see OED under Harridan has -Originally posted by smittims View Post
....generally supposed to be an alteration of F. haridelle an old jade of a horse (16thc. in Hatz.-Darm.) also a gaunt ill-favoured woman (Littré); but connecting forms are not known.
2.) one of my favourite Woodforde quotes comes early on, in his undergraduate days -
1763 Feb 17. I dined at the Chaplain's table with Pickering and Waring, upon a roasted Tongue and Udder, and we went on each of us for it 0. 1. 9. N.B. I shall not dine on a roasted Tongue and Udder again very soon.
3.) if you are reading of Woodforde's eating habits in his later life there are repeated references to "the Charter". I have assumed it is some kind of pudding, but it wd be nice to know exactly what he m eant....
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Skeat's Etymological Dictionary has for HarridanOriginally posted by smittims View Post
"It seems to be a variant of MF haridelle, which Cot[grave] explains by 'a poor tit, or leane ill-favored jade;' i.e. a worn-out horse.'Comment
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... I find others too have wondered - and have found an answer (yes, it is a custard... )Originally posted by vinteuil View Post
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