[stylist] useful resource

Thu Jun 17 22:51:07 UTC 2010

Jim, This is excellent! Thanks for sharing. Donna

Read Donna's articles on
Suite 101:
www.suite101.com/profile.cfm/donna_hill
American Chronicle:
www.americanchronicle.com/authors/view/3885

Connect with Donna on
Twitter:
www.twitter.com/dewhill
LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/dwh99
FaceBook:
www.facebook.com/donna.w.hill.

Hear clips from "The Last Straw" at:
cdbaby.com/cd/donnahill
Apple I-Tunes
phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=259244374

Check out the "Sound in Sight" CD project 
Donna is Head of Media Relations for the nonprofit 
Performing Arts Division of the National Federation of the Blind:
www.padnfb.org

James H. "Jim" Canaday M.A. N6YR wrote:
> I've subscribed to the "a phrase a week" newsletter for some time 
> now.  don't think have shared it here.  below you'll see yesterday's.
> jc
> From: A Phrase A Week <apaw at phrasefinder.co.uk>
>
>
> In the nick of time
>
> Meaning
>
> Just in time; at the precise moment.
>
> Origin
>
> The English language gives us the opportunity to be 'in' many things - 
> <http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/in-the-doldrums.html>the doldrums, 
> <http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/in-the-offing.html>the offing, 
> <http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/in-the-pink.html>the pink; we can 
> even be 
> <http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/down-in-the-dumps.html>down in the 
> dumps. With all of these expressions it is pretty easy to see what 
> they refer to, but what or where is the 'nick of time'? It may not be 
> immediately obvious what the nick of time is, but we do know what it 
> means to be in it, i.e. arriving at the last propitious moment. Prior 
> to the 16th century there was another expression used to convey that 
> meaning - 'pudding time'. This relates to the fact that pudding was 
> the dish served first at mediaeval mealtimes. To arrive at pudding 
> time was to arrive at the start of the meal, just in time to eat. 
> Pudding was then a savoury dish - a form of sausage or haggis (see 
> also <http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/proof-of-the-pudding.html>the 
> proof is in the pudding). Pudding time is first referred to in print 
> in John Heywood's invaluable glossary A dialogue conteinyng the nomber 
> in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue, 1546:
>
> This geare comth euen in puddyng time ryghtly.
>
> In the nick of
> time
> That seems a perfectly serviceable idiom, so why did the Tudors change 
> it to 'the nick of time'? The motivation appears to be the desire to 
> express a finer degree of timing than the vague 'around the beginning 
> of the meal'. The nick that was being referred to was a notch or small 
> cut and was synonymous with precision. Such notches were used on 
> 'tally' sticks to measure or keep score.
>
> Note: the expressions 'keeping score' and 'keeping tally' derive from 
> this and so do 'stocks' and 'shares', which refer to the splitting of 
> such sticks (stocks) along their length and sharing the two matching 
> halves as a record of a deal.
>
> If someone is now said to be 'in the nick' the English would expect 
> him to be found in prison, the Scots would picture him in the valley 
> between two hills and Australians would imagine him to be naked. To 
> Shakespeare and his contemporaries if someone were 'in (or at, or 
> upon) the (very) nick' they were in the precise place at the precise 
> time. Watches and the strings of musical instruments were adjusted to 
> precise pre-marked nicks to keep them in proper order. Ben Jonson 
> makes a reference to that in the play Pans Anniversary, circa 1637:
>
> For to these, there is annexed a clock-keeper, a grave person, as Time 
> himself, who is to see that they all keep time to a nick.
>
> Arthur Golding gave what is likely to be the first example of the use 
> of 'nick' in this context in his translation of Ovid's Metamorphosis, 
> 1565:
>
> Another thing cleane overthwart there commeth in the nicke:
> The Ladie Semell great with childe by Jove as then was quicke.
>
> The 'time' in 'the nick of time' is rather superfluous, as nick itself 
> refers to time. The first example of the use of the phrase as we now 
> know it comes in Arthur Day's Festivals, 1615:
>
> Even in this nicke of time, this very, very instant.
>
>
> - The PhraseFinder site's new and updated content is notified on 
> Twitter. If you would like to keep up with any new entries: 
> <http://www.twitter.com/aphraseaweek>
> Follow
> aphraseaweek on Twitter
>
>
> - You can also find me on 
> <http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=266460790418>
> A Phrase A Week
> - Facebook Group
>
>
> ----------
>  The Phrase A Week newsletter goes to 105,500 subscribers (82,500 by 
> e-mail, 23,000 by RSS feed).
> <http://www.phrases.org.uk/support.html>Please help support this 
> newsletter.
>
> <http://www.phrases.org.uk/a-phrase-a-week/add.html>Add a phrase a 
> week to your own web site or blog. - 
> www.phrases.org.uk/a-phrase-a-week/add.html
> <http://www.phrasefinder.co.uk/>Phrase Thesaurus - Writer's Aid - 
> www.phrasefinder.co.uk
> <http://www.phrases.org.uk/>Phrases and sayings - meanings and 
> origins. - www.phrases.org.uk/meanings
> <http://www.phrases.org.uk/a-phrase-a-week/unsubscribe.html>Unsubscribe 
> from this mailing list. - 
> <http://www.phrases.org.uk/a-phrase-a-week/unsubscribe.html>www.phrases.org.uk/a-phrase-a-week/unsubscribe.html 
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Writers Division web site:
> http://www.nfb-writers-division.org 
> <http://www.nfb-writers-division.org/>
>
> stylist mailing list
> stylist at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> stylist:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/penatwork%40epix.net 
>
>
>
>
>
> =======
> Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found.
> (Email Guard: 7.0.0.18, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.15240)
> http://www.pctools.com/
> =======
>

=======
Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found.
(Email Guard: 7.0.0.18, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.15240)
http://www.pctools.com/
=======