a piece of peace

[Arnold Zwicky]

yes!  something *not* about the PSAT.  instead, something for
collectors of word confusions.

first, bits of postings from the newsgroup soc.motss, with
real names (other than mine) replaced by arbitrary labels:

------
From: zwicky at Turing.Stanford.EDU (Arnold Zwicky)
Newsgroups: soc.motss
Subject: Re: piece pipe
Date: Mon, 19 May 2003 15:40:22 +0000 (UTC)
Organization: pieceable mammoths

in article <>, [M1] asks:

 >zwicky at Turing.Stanford.EDU (Arnold Zwicky) writes:
  >> i said my piece
 >  Is this really the correct spelling? I had always thought
 >  the phrase was "said my peace" since it seems vaguely
 >  congruent with the intent -- that is, saying what's on
 >  your mind and then making peace by shutting up. So this
 >  if correct is a surprise. Do you know its roots?

AHD3, entry for PIECE 'portion, part', definition 6:
  A declaration of one's opinions or findings: _speak one's piece_.

it's just a specialization of the word PIECE.  compare a related
specialization in "the pianist played three pieces by chopin".

"peace" gets points for inventiveness, though.

zotling, noting that if you give someone a piece of your mind
  you probably *aren't* giving them peace of mind

------
From: [M2]
Newsgroups: soc.motss
Subject: Re: piece pipe
Date: Mon, 19 May 2003 16:40:22 -0700

Arnold Zwicky wrote:
 >... AHD3, entry for PIECE 'portion, part', definition 6:...

Wow.  I always thought it was "peace", too, for pretty much the same
reason.  It was along the lines that I got something off my chest and
now I'm at peace with the situation.

Seeing it now as "I said my piece", it looks to me like it's trying to
convey a vague sense of violence (i.e., 'piece' as weapon).  I'm just
going to have to get over that, I suppose.

> zotling, noting that if you give someone a piece of your mind
>   you probably *aren't* giving them peace of mind

Piece of cake!

[M2], who rather likes days when there's something you
   thought you knew turning out *completely* different.

------
From: [R]
Newsgroups: soc.motss
Subject: Re: piece pipe
Date: 19 May 2003 23:11:39 -0400

In article <>, [T] wrote:
  [M2]
  >>Seeing it now as "I said my piece", it looks to me like
  >>it's trying to convey a vague sense of violence
  >>(i.e., 'piece' as weapon).

 >I think you are seeing it wrong: no such connotations were intended
 >in the uses I've seen.

Indeed, I'm pretty sure the phrase "said my piece" is considerably
older than the use of "piece" to mean a weapon. (I'm pretty sure the
latter usage is younger than I am, though I can't prove it.)

------
From: [J]
Newsgroups: soc.motss
Subject: Re: piece pipe
Date: 20 May 2003 18:26:07 -0400

[M1] <> writes:
 >   Is this really the correct spelling?...

The OED has "to say (or speak) one's piece" = to have one's say, with
quotations going back to 1845.  It is under the meaning "a short
discourse or passage for recitation", so I suppose that is the
metaphor involved.

But cf. "to make one's peace with" = be reconciled to.

------

so much for exchanges between M1, me, M2, T, R, and J, the main
point of which is that M1 and M2 thought the expression was "to say
one's peace".

as it happens, this piece/peace thing has not escaped the compilers of
usage dictionaries.  garner's Dictionary of Modern American Usage
addresses "peace of mind" and "piece of (one's) mind": "Whereas _peace
of mind_ is calm assurance, a _piece of one's mind_ is something
a person says in a fit of pique.  But the two are surprisingly often
confused..."  garner gives three examples, all illustrating "piece of
mind" for "peace of mind".

(i'm not sure i would treat garner's estimates of frequency as
reliable; "often" probably just means 'more than i would have thought,
at least a few times'.  note that garner gives no examples of "peace"
for "piece", as in the messages from M1 and M2 above.)

MWDEU is, as usual, more cautious: "piece, peace.  A few schoolbooks
and handbooks warn against confusing _piece_ with _peace_.  This would
seem a schoolchild's error, but in fact adults in their less attentive
moments do sometimes botch the two.  We had a correspondent in 1985
who wondered _peace_ or _piece_ was the spelling to be used in "Speak
now or forever hold your ____." "  this would be "piece" for "peace"
again.

("botch" is unusually vivid for MWDEU, and seems to me to be
especially effective after the careful and elevated "but in fact
adults in their less attentive moments do sometimes".)

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu), trying to right (and not
  write, rite, or wright) the error balance in favor of
  piece --> peace  (over peace --> piece)

(after these exchanges, the soc.motss discussion deteriorated into one
of the newsgroup's perpetual pun exchanges, involving "peace",
"piece", "pees", and "peas".)