Every time I say "by and large", I remember that the expression, which is generally understood to mean "generally" -- see what I did there -- is of nautical origin. The UK's Royal Navy created many figures of speech we use today in entirely different contexts.
"By" means "sailing close to against the wind", and "large" means "sailing with the wind behind us".
A ship that sailed well "by and large", was a ship that could do okay regardless of which way the wind was blowing.
i.e.: "Generally".
Humans are, by and large, awful, and I don't think we're really gonna work out in the long run.
But language.
Human language is such a glorious thing, it almost redeems us as a species.
Consider the myriad ways to say "stupid".
The whole "Eskimos have 30 words for snow" thing is bullshit. The Inuit have slightly more words to describe different kinds and feels of snow than the average midwesterner. Slightly.
But if it *were* true, surely, the ways in which we can say "stupid" would tell us all a great deal about our society.
"Lights on, nobody home."
"Couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were printed on the heel."
"Dumber than . . ." "a sackful of hammers", "a bag full of hair", "a suitcase full of rocks".
"Three bricks shy of a load."
"Elevator don't go all the way to the penthouse."
"Not the sharpest tool in the shed."
"Couldn't piss out a boat and hit water."
"A real good dancer."
"Short bus."
And then, there is poetry, and lyrics.
It takes my breath away.
,,, I have of late, but wherefore I know not lost all my mirth ...
... this goodly frame the earth it seems but a sterile promintory ...
... this most excellent canopy, the air, look you ...
... this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire ...
...why it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.
@DJDarren @GeePawHill Oh yeah, thinking about it I haven't watched it in an age...
Fun fact, after we moved into our current house we found out that it had been named "Marwood" at some point in the past.
@GeePawHill There is a marvelous bit in the first episode of the RSC's Playing Shakespeare series with John Barton, where he has Ian McKellen illustrate a point using that opening line from the Merchant of Venice.
It's a stellar acting lesson but whether you're an actor or not, it's a joy to watch McKellen do his thing.
https://youtu.be/D2VnxiW3oqk?t=852
#TheMerchantOfVenice #IanMcKellen #JohnBarton #Shakespeare #PlayingShakespeare #Acting #Performance #Theatre
Great thread.
makes me think of the southern phrase "Bless her/his/your heart..."
Which conveys so many things ... not one of which is truly ' I think very highly of you, I approve of what you are doing or saying, & for you I wish only good things'....
Hehe..
Dumber than a bag of dicks
@GeePawHill
The car is going but there's no one behind the wheel.
There's light in the attic but no ladder.
"not dealing from a full deck"
"doesn't know his arse from his elbow"
"couldn't find his arse with both hands and a map"
“The wheel’s spinning but the hamster’s long gone”
@GeePawHill I keep thinking Australians have 30 words for "vomit," but I then I realize that I'm counting "chunder" 15 times because it's so expressive, and they really only have, like, 16 words for "vomit".
Which is totally not excessive.
@GeePawHill Never mind ‘stupid’ - certainly over this side of The Pond we can make almost any word mean ‘drunk’. They even has a special term - “drunkonyms”.
Gazeboed, carparked, pyjama’d… pick a word. 😁
@GeePawHill agreed. although i hate how specific terms always get worn down to meaninglessness. "internet troll", "reply guy" — these words used to mean something, even quite recently.
is that humans, or just entropy? i'm not sure.
@GeePawHill A gentle counterpoint to "humans are, by and large, awful".
Economists like to assume we are " homo economicus", completely rational and narrowly self interested. But I see examples of community and generosity all the time.
The person coming out of the foodbank who stops to give food to the panhandler.
The child eager to help.
The artists who pours their soul into their work, for no monetary reward.
Neighbours who come together in disaster - tornado, fire, flood. To evacuate. To feed. To comfort.
The fact that what pushes most people to leave a job isn't the pay. It's the horrible boss.
We live in community. Capitalists try to make us forget this. To numb us with screens. Isolate us in cars. To create categories of humans to hate. But even in the darkest points, the beauty of humanity, and of community, continues to shine through the cracks.
@GeePawHill thank your for that lesson in language history, very much appreciated
(and I love your ONi posts, thanks for these, too)
@GeePawHill when I say "generally", I kind of nod. With "by and large" it's side-to-side shake, as with "more or less". Signifies "not disagreeing", where "generally" is "mostly agreeing".
Just me and 8+ decades of speaking English.
@GeePawHill I guess reinforcing your point later in the thread about flexibility and inventiveness with language, this phrase always make me think of an Emo Philips routine about his teacher: 'She was, bi and large...'
I've recently finally read The Canterbury Tales all the way through, and am very taken with Chaucer's phrase 'Be as be may' (=Be that as it may)
GeePawHill
LiquorVicar
DJDarren
Shaula Evans
movation
oldguycrusty
there is beauty in simplicity
hyperreal
Bruce Heerssen 
Kristaps Liepins
Jez Higgins
Chris Pitts
🔶Mark Nicoll 3.5%🏴🇬🇧🇪🇺🇺🇳
⁂ Fish Id Wardrobe
Mark Burton
E. C. Bigribs
PapyrusBrigade has moved
LetsCallHimSteve
Greem (Graeme. Not Graham!)
LJ
Ron Jeffries
Paul Cowdell