CDZ At what point do you stop giving someone the benefit of the doubt?

[Circe]

"This rather disparaging term was coined by the Victorian novelist and playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton. He used it in his 1830 novel Paul Clifford: 'He is certainly a man who bathes and 'lives cleanly', (two especial charges preferred against him by Messrs. the Great Unwashed).'"

OT:

Having not read Paul Clifford, I lack the contextual information need to be sure; however, I wonder whether by "preferred," Lytton meant "proffered." It's quite possible that he does mean that the Great Unwashed prefer to and often enough do gripe about Clifford's (?) hygiene, though the placement of the quotation marks around "lives uncleanly," absent further contextual guidance, suggests otherwise. I'm certain about the current contextual connotation and denotation of "proffer" being apt to the nation of one's levying a charge.

Why do I mention the above? To call attention to and illustrate the practical purpose of my earlier discussion of quotation marks, which, I believe you took as "snarky." As I earlier wrote, "snark" was not at all what was in my mind when I conceived and composed that post. I am clearly not the only writer who uses quotation marks as I mentioned I use them; it's simply a standard usage.​

I have no problem with your use of quotation marks: I use them a LOT and I think pretty much as you do. (And don't get me started on hyphens; or the difference between less and fewer.)

No, "preferred" seems to be what was meant: I looked it up and it's a standard legal idiom, apparently. I thought I had seen it before.

prefer charges

Also found in: Idioms.
See: accuse, arraign, book, charge, complain, impeach, implicate, incriminate, indict, involve, lodge, present, prosecute

As for your footnotes, I am reminded that I was in a rather nice college when Kennedy was assassinated, and there was a commotion that we heard in chemistry class and a student burst in with the news --- and the prof, a chemistry professor this was, said immediately to us, "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown," and I thought, even at that age, whatever my father is paying for this education, it's not enough.

 

[usmbguest5318]

"This rather disparaging term was coined by the Victorian novelist and playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton. He used it in his 1830 novel Paul Clifford: 'He is certainly a man who bathes and 'lives cleanly', (two especial charges preferred against him by Messrs. the Great Unwashed).'"

OT:

Having not read Paul Clifford, I lack the contextual information need to be sure; however, I wonder whether by "preferred," Lytton meant "proffered." It's quite possible that he does mean that the Great Unwashed prefer to and often enough do gripe about Clifford's (?) hygiene, though the placement of the quotation marks around "lives uncleanly," absent further contextual guidance, suggests otherwise. I'm certain about the current contextual connotation and denotation of "proffer" being apt to the nation of one's levying a charge.

Why do I mention the above? To call attention to and illustrate the practical purpose of my earlier discussion of quotation marks, which, I believe you took as "snarky." As I earlier wrote, "snark" was not at all what was in my mind when I conceived and composed that post. I am clearly not the only writer who uses quotation marks as I mentioned I use them; it's simply a standard usage.​

I have no problem with your use of quotation marks: I use them a LOT and I think pretty much as you do. (And don't get me started on hyphens; or the difference between less and fewer.)

No, "preferred" seems to be what was meant: I looked it up and it's a standard legal idiom, apparently. I thought I had seen it before.

prefer charges

Also found in: Idioms.
See: accuse, arraign, book, charge, complain, impeach, implicate, incriminate, indict, involve, lodge, present, prosecute

As for your footnotes, I am reminded that I was in a rather nice college when Kennedy was assassinated, and there was a commotion that we heard in chemistry class and a student burst in with the news --- and the prof, a chemistry professor this was, said immediately to us, "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown," and I thought, even at that age, whatever my father is paying for this education, it's not enough.

As for your footnotes, I am reminded that I was in a rather nice college when Kennedy was assassinated, and there was a commotion that we heard in chemistry class and a student burst in with the news --- and the prof, a chemistry professor this was, said immediately to us, "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown," and I thought, even at that age, whatever my father is paying for this education, it's not enough.

Nifty anecdote. TY for sharing.

OT:

As a father who finds himself at "one down, three to go" with regard to paying for my kids' educations, I don't know that I'll ever think that (LOL), but that's merely me thinking about the million-plus I've spent on their educations. Right now, I'm merely thankful they learned enough before college to seek, apply for and obtain a bit of merit-based scholarships (all private rather than school-sponsored), thereby ensuring that I will disburse less than I did for the final four years of their K-12 educations. LOL


FWIW and tangentially, I was surprised to learn during my kid's college application processes that there are virtually no academic scholarship to be had from the most selective private colleges and universities themselves. It seems that such schools these days give only need-based scholarships. I don't know if that was the case when I and my siblings went to college; we didn't have much at all to do with the financing of our college careers. We applied (with our parents' guidance, of course), we informed Momma and Dad of where we decided to go, whereupon they asked for the financial documentation and that was about the last we heard of anything having to do with money and college. We were just thankful that we were allowed, unlike high school, allowed to choose the school we attended.​