Two queries: "for good"; "face the music"

[Thomas Paikeday]

Good questions! I have always thought that the derivation of meanings is
more important for English users than the development of forms as in
comparative philology. American Heritage, thanks to Wm Morris, perhaps
contains more meaningful etymologies than the competition, although I
treasure it mostly for its IE roots. I wish some day some lexicographer
would write a complete dictionary doing justice to this aspect of words.
Maybe there are already dictionaries of this kind in existence that I
don't know of. A couple of such titles may provide the answer to this
query.

TOM PAIKEDAY
The User's® Webster
www3.sympatico.ca/t.paikeday/index.htm (in preparation)

Gerald Cohen wrote:
>
>     A colleague has sent two queries my way:
>
> (1) Why do we say "for good" (= forever), as in: "He left California for good"?
>
> (2) Why do we say "face the music"?  What was the original reference here?
>
>    Would anyone have any ideas?
>
> Gerald Cohen