And. . . just how many ways are there? 2? 6? 15?
And what are they? (Not to worry, I like cats. The question is purrly :rolleyes: hypothetical).
Skinning a cat in its non-metaphoric sense referred to skinning a catfish (to prepare for cooking) if that makes the cat-lovers feel any better.
In Napoleon Bonaparte’s day, a new style of warfare used a square of ten soldiers by ten soldiers. The outer layer of men carried long pointy poles, pikes. Thus, a piker was a grunt, a man of the lowest rank. You don’t hear it much now, but a piker is still small potatoes.
I have encountered this, is a slightly different context. A friend survived a horrific car crash that left the front end of her car, in the words of the fire chief who responded to the accident, was “completely stove in.”
My Oxford Canadian Dictionary notes that “stove” in this contaxt is the past participle of the verb “stave,” to knock a hole in, to crush or knock out of shape, to fit or furnish (ie a cask) with staves (n).
So while my friend’s car had its front end crushed, an injured man most likely has taken a significant blow.
That’s interesting if true (not the word origin, the tactic.) I’ve never heard of that tactic being used in the turn of the 19th century battles.
In fact, I was lead to believe that pikes themselves were considered archaic by that time period by many. (However, they were useful in some but not all close combat situations. Probably less useful than a sword or halberd but I digress.)
On the other hand, a hundred or so years before that or even further, pikes were indeed used to protect musketeers.
Let me amend my previous :dubious: post. This tactic was used in the eastern front (and my mind fails me, perhaps in Egypt), by those that had lances handy, to ward against the predations of hit and run cavalry. On the other hand, I would think that in general, pikes would be too unwieldy to carry around in early 19th century combat for the limited amount of increased protection from cavalry that they would achieve versus the bayonet in a square situation.
“That’s the ticket!”
Could someone (DesertGeezer? Johnny L.A.?) please tell me exactly what “fell” means in reference to “one fell swoop”, “fell clutch of circumstance” and “fell deeds”?
I checked Dictionary.com, but I’m not sure which of the many meanings of the word is the right one. “One fell swoop” is mentioned, but only to explain the basic meaning of the expression (“all at once”).
I get the impression from the previous posts in this thread that “fell” - in reference to the aforementioned phrases - means either “deadly”/“lethal” or “evil”/“sinister”.
And on the subject of rotary phones, I went to high-school with a guy who’s father (who worked for the phone company) had a working rotary phone in his car. (I graduated from high-school in 1994.)
Anyhoo…
OK, weird sayings my dad used to come out with.
A hard rain could be a “frog-strangler” or a “gully washer and a trash mover.”
Items that were considered to be of high quality were “guaranteed not to rip-run-roar-slide-or smell bad in the summer time.” That phrase has to be said very fast with no pauses between words to sound right.
Testy
In the case of “fell swoop” I’d say deadly is the best choice. The “fell clutch of circumstance” and “fell deeds” most likely mean cruel. My Living Webster says it’s probably Celtic in origin. Just think “extremely negative” and you won’t be far off.
fell[sup]2[/sup] adj.
- Of an inhumanly cruel nature; fierce: *fell hordes. *
- Capable of destroying; lethal: *a fell blow. *
- Dire; sinister: by some fell chance.
So one fell swoop means “all at once, as if by a single terrible act”. The imagery I see is a raptor tucking in its wings and catching its completely oblivious prey, or a large swath of wheat being cut by a single swoop of a scythe.
My source for pikes and pikers in Napoleon’s armies was one of those Connections television shows. You know, the ones where a charming old gent links together seemingly unrelated historical events. Anyway, the guy spoke of this square-with-pikes style of warfare, and how it required massive numbers of soldiers. He went from there to the invention of portable preserved (canned) food, which allowed huge armies to move around without starving.
My own knowledge of European warfare is very shallow, indeed, and I don’t know how correct the TV show may have been.
“Have to” sounds archaic in structure; but “must” sounds stilted.
A relevant quote taken from the lyrics of my namesake:
*Face those facts, you can’t relax
You’ve gotta get that train back on its tracks
'Til the morning comes, the work is done
Find your place beneath the sun
Rake those leaves as thick as thieves
Then go and put your heart back on its sleeve
'Til September rain, and all its pain
Dies in vain
And I know what you’re thinkin’
The world is shrinkin’ your bones*
–Roland Orzabal, Hypnoculture
Well, no. But I am an agnostic liver. Living is something I do almost every day. 
Damn dirty hippie! Cut your hair!
I like Far Ourt
Whilst
Keep your shirt on
Why?
I can’t see why anyone would need it explained to them.
I’ve heard it recently on the the radio, although some people seem to have the really annoying habit now of saying “it’s six or two-threes”. :mad:
Maybe it’s a commentary on the pathetic state of the schools? People under 50 don’t know that a half dozen=6?
You folks that don’t know what “fell” means have obviously never read
Lord of the Rings.
A friend of mine almost asked someone out because he used “I haven’t the foggiest” in a seminar class once. Which isn’t archaic so much as quaint and grandma-esque.
I’m partial to “that’s the kicker of the whole shebang,” though I admit to neither knowing what a shebang consists of nor why one would be so merciless as to kick it.
Also, calling someone “old bean” is one of my favorites.