A "fifty-six"?

[Wilson Gray]

I got "weighty" and "fundamental development, well adapting him for
the judicial bench" had me ROTFLMAO!

-Wilson

On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 11:51 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
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>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>  Subject:      Re: A "fifty-six"?
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>  At 4/3/2008 11:09 AM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>  >"[A] fifty-six [is a] weight of 4 stone."
>  >
>  >Damn, Joel! I'm impressed! That would never have occurred to me! {No,
>  >I'm not being sarcastic. I *am* impressed. I would have totally missed
>  >that connection.]
>  >
>  >-Wilson
>
>  I assume you didn't miss the pun on "fundamental", however!  Or the
>  one on "weighty": heavy in pounds, both of mass and of wealth (which
>  was of course equated to importance).
>
>  Joel
>
>
>
>
>  >On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 10:50 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
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>  > -----------------------
>  > >  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  > >  Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>  > >  Subject:      A "fifty-six"?
>  > >
>  > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  > >
>  > >  In _The House of the Seven Gables_, I find:
>  > >
>  > >  "Though looked upon as a weighty man among his contemporaries, in
>  > >  respect of animal substance; and as favored with a remarkable degree
>  > >  of fundamental development, well adapting him for the judicial bench,
>  > >  we conceive that the modern Judge Pyncheon, if weighed in the same
>  > >  balance with his ancestor, would have required at least an
>  > >  old-fashioned fifty-six, to keep the scale in equilibrio."
>  > >
>  > >  [And they say Hawthorne was humorless.]
>  > >
>  > >  What is a fifty-six?  Not in OED2.  A weight of 4 stone, I
>  > >  assume--but was this a common unit for weights used in a scale,
>  > >  perhaps for animals?
>  > >
>  > >  Joel
>  > >
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>  >come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
 -Sam'l Clemens

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org