[Fwd: Re: Cut Bait; Die is Cast]

[Mike Salovesh]

Aw, shucks.  This one is for the record: I sent it at 4:53 AM Sunday,
thinking I had addressed it to the list.  That's what I get for staying
up so late!

--  mike salovesh       <salovesh at niu.edu>      PEACE !!!

-------- Original Message --------
From: Mike Salovesh <t20mxs1 at corn.cso.niu.edu>
Subject: Re: Cut Bait; Die is Cast
To: Grant Barrett <gbarrett at monickels.com>

About "fish or cut bait":

When I learned this phrase as a boy, I was told the general meaning is
"If you don't want to fish, then get to work and cut bait for those who
do."  The general sense, I was told, is that everybody has to contribute
to a joint enterprise.  If you don't want to do what we came here to do,
then get to work doing something that will help the rest of us get on
with the job.  Short translation: Don't just sit there, do something.

There are some people whose "contributions" get in everybody's way
without helping anything.  I sometimes wish there were a way to tell
them "Don't just do something, sit there!"

=======================

As for "the die is cast": one die, two (or more) dice.  (Exception:
archaic usage sometimes was "casting the dies", not "casting the
dice".)  The reference is not limited to the Las Vegas object, a regular
cube with each of its six sides marked uniquely by one to six dots.
Dice, in the ancient sense, were multi-faced objects with marks
distinguishing the faces from each other. "Cast", in this phrase, is
"throw", as in "cast the first stone".

The point to casting a die (or some dice) is that the process ends with
a result that is unequivocal and uniquely distinguished from all other
possible results. Ancient Romans gambled on the results of the toss of a
single
die; when the player let go of the die, the cry "the die is cast" was an
announcement that betting was closed and bets already placed were
binding.  (Wait a minute -- my Latin deserted me just when I needed it
most.  What the heck was it -- "acta jalea est"?  No, that doesn't feel
right . . . "jacta alea est"?  At least it's in the singular, as I would
expect from "the die is cast".)

Once the die was cast, or once the dice were rolled, no human hands
could change the result: the physical act of throwing leaves the dice
uncontrolled and their eventual result is determined even before they
come to rest.(That's in theory, of course, with no magnetic fields under
the dice table or other interferences with the supposedly random
process.)

The phrase became a metaphor for situations where the outcome, although
not yet known, was inevitable and beyond human manipulation.

Since "die" as a singular for "dice" is no longer in common usage,
singers have a problem with the lines "I was lost, the losing die was
tossed". I heard Ol' Blue Eyes sing "I was lost, the losing dice were
tossed", which thoroughly kills the neat parallel.

-- mike salovesh   <salovesh at niu.edu>      PEACE !!!

P.S.: For those who aren't old enough to make the connection, the
citations in the last paragraph are to the song "Just in time" as sung
by Frank Sinatra, or
Ol' Blue Eyes.

Written in response to the following:

Grant Barrett wrote:
>
> This query came into the ADS web site. I think the sender intends to ask about
> origin and application rather than meaning, but in any case, please forward any responses
> onto the original sender as well as the list.
>
> Date: Saturday, May 27, 2000
> From: tjdean at astro.ocis.temple.edu
>
> What is the meaning of the following two expressions:
> 1. fish or cut bait -- does "cut bait" mean, do nothing (i.e., just sitting there
> and cutting bait) or does :cut bait" mean, cut the bait off your line?
>
> 2. what is the meaning of "the die is cast"?  does it refer to the toss of a single
> dice (Caesar crossing the Rubicon), or does it refer to printing, settting something
> in a "die" a mold?
>
> --
>
> Grant Barrett
> gbarrett at monickels.com
> http://www.monickels.com/
> AIM: monickels

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