Comments on: Getting #Matthew Wrong

By: Obstreperous Applesauce

Obstreperous Applesauce — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 16:50:48 +0000

Defeat the GOP denial machine
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/10/08/real-solution-climate-polarization-defeat-gop-denial-machine

By: BBD

BBD — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 13:24:16 +0000

FWIW I’ve always understood it to be British naval slang dating back at least to the 1800s. Crew, assembled before officers, would be told to ‘toe the line’ simply meaning align the front rank to the planking of the deck. Sailors were not instructed in drill like infantry and were not able to form up into a parade with the same facility. The ‘line’ would have been very visible against the light wood of the daily-scoured deck as the gaps between the planks of the deck were caulked with pitch.

So ‘toeing the line’ in essence means demonstratble deference to authority.

By: zebra

zebra — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 11:00:34 +0000

toe the line

don’t get ahead of yourself

In track, you toe the line. You don’t start before the start signal. This goes back as long as people have had footraces, which is a long time.

By: jyyh

jyyh — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 05:16:07 +0000

ah, “forcing the penance” in finnish.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 01:11:47 +0000

Dean, well, there you go then! Makes sense.

By: dean

dean — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 00:45:57 +0000

Of course that would be Clinton County, not Country.

Male typing syndrome strikes again. 🙁

By: dean

dean — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 00:45:18 +0000

Greg: I grew up just north of Lansing, in Clinton Country, just outside the town of DeWitt – both named, according to local historians, for DeWitt Clinton.

For what it’s worth. 🙂

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Fri, 07 Oct 2016 23:45:00 +0000

Dean: “Odd – that’s what I was told as well all those years ago when I was a kid, and central Michigan has no canals at all.”

Central Michigan was presumably settled by people from the Erie Canal Zone!

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Fri, 07 Oct 2016 23:43:39 +0000

” So this business of “tow the line” referring to barges on canals is post hoc folk etymology.”

Well, it is what we who grew up on the canals thought. We didn’t think that was the origin of the term (not etymology). We thought that is what the term meant. So, folk, yes.

I’m sure this happens all the time with expressions. They get said a different way, become widely used that way, and meaning comes along from somewhere and gloms onto the expression.

Or, multiple origins. Not likely in this case, but quite possible with “Straw Man.”

BTY, the line we are towing is attached to a barge. A barge does not pull a boat. A boat might pull a barge, though.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Fri, 07 Oct 2016 23:39:51 +0000

Sou: Oh, it is very very bad.

You don’t need to take a test to be a YouTube video producer!