Posted on 12/14/2006 4:31:48 AM PST by secret garden
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In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day".
hue and cry • noun, idiom
a loud clamour or public outcry
Etymology:
Hue and cry contains the obsolete word hue, which people these days know only as a slightly formal or technical word for a colour or shade. As a result, you sometimes see the phrase written as hew and cry.
Our modern meaning goes back to part of English common law in the centuries after the Norman Conquest. There wasn’t an organised police force and the job of fighting crime fell mostly on ordinary people. If somebody robbed you, or you saw a murder or other crime of violence, it was up to you to raise the alarm, the hue and cry. Everybody in the neighbourhood was then obliged to drop what they were doing and help pursue and capture the supposed criminal. If the criminal was caught with stolen goods on him, he was summarily convicted (he wasn’t allowed to say anything in his defence, for example), while if he resisted arrest he could be killed. The same term was used for a proclamation relating to the capture of a criminal or the finding of stolen goods. The laws relating to hue and cry were repealed in Britain in 1827.
This mysterious word hue is from the first part of the Anglo-Norman French legal phrase hu e cri. This came from the Old French hu for an outcry, in turn from huer, to shout. It seems that hue could mean any cry, or even the sound of a horn or trumpet—the phrase hu e cri had a Latin equivalent, hutesium et clamor, “with horn and with voice”.
As an etymological footnote, the Old French huer survived in Cornwall right down to the early twentieth century. At that time an important part of local livelihoods in coastal communities came from the seasonal catch of fish called pilchards, which migrated past the coast in great shoals in early autumn. To be sure of not missing their arrival, fishermen posted lookouts on the cliffs. They were called huers, since they commonly alerted the waiting fishermen by shouting through speaking trumpets.
The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day. The Review threads are linked for your edification. ;-)
Practice makes perfect.....post on....
Review Thread One: Word For The Day, Thursday 11/14/02: Raffish (Be SURE to check out posts #92 and #111 on this thread!)
Review Thread Two: Word For The Day, Tuesday 1/14/03: Roister
Review Thread Three: Word For The Day, Tuesday 1/28/03: Obdurate
WFB's attempt to emulate us ; ) No pushing at the door please!
Here is my example with WFTD.
Where is the hue and cry over the Duke lacrosse players and how they have been treated by the media?
Or on FR, you might see it "hugh and cry".
go me i'm 2
There were 2 major hues and crys in my house this morning.....both about the 2 hour fog delay of school.Jax' was ENTIRELY different than mine :)
it is one of the most outrageous things i have ever heard. the congressman who is asking for the fed investigation of Nifong, from NC, is the one that xshub approached, in the waiting area [he was on their flight] about the airport security situation, when he and xsteen flew down to Charlotte to look at Belmont Abbey.
i am in full on baking mode. i have 4 kinds of cookies mixed and waiting in the fridge for me to bake them up.
Good on you. I only have 2 kinds in the fridge at the moment, but that will change once I get back from the store after taking the kids to school.
The chef is here. Good eats for everyone.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
I wonder if you are keeping track of how much school time these kids have missed for fog. I know it's a delicate balance for snow days because they only allot so much time into the calendar for them and then the kids have to make them up. It seems those kids have missed at least a few days already.
He's supposed to be a drinker too, with a history of being carried out of places.
A+ for you!
That's the reason behind the "2 hour" delay - it's not counted against the available "snow" days.
Even better. Top four!
I need to get going here. I have to wrap and mail this week.
Do they bother to count tardys on their report cards and if so, why? They are being sneaky, aren't they?
I agree with them being sneaky.....they pull the same kind of stunt with the nurse sending kids home. If it's not an emergency, like with the lice situation, they always wait until after 11:30. It took me awhile to figure that out.
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