Rein/range/reign

[Joel S. Berson]

At 7/4/2009 11:57 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>At 4:46 AM -0700 7/4/09, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
>>On Jul 3, 2009, at 7:47 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>
>> From a discussion of homeless children being allowed to wander:about
>>>in abandoned buildings:
>>>
>>>"... the only building in the city that allows _free rein_ to
>>>homeless kids ..."
>>>
>>>
>>>I'm *really* uncertain about this one. It seems to me that this
>>>sorta-kinda-maybe calls for "... allows free _range_," since the kids
>>>are *wandering about* within the building, but, WTF, I wouldn't bet
>>>money on it.

"free reign" -- they rule the building they are squatting in.

Joel


>>"free rein" is the original idiom, but (as Chris Waigl said on the
>>ecdb):
>>
>>   As horses and carriages have become rare as a means of transport,
>>the metaphor controling or restricting their movement with the help of
>>reins has lost its transparency.
>>   http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/34/reign/
>>
>>so "rein" has been replaced by items that make more sense to people,
>>in particular "reign" and "range", the latter also in the ecdb:
>>
>>   http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/362/range/
>>
>>searching the ecdm for "rein" will get you both of these entries.
>>
>>arnold
>And in the other direction, there's "free rein chicken", which
>conjures a lovely image of unbridled poultry galloping along on
>saddleback.
>
>LH
>
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org