Scottish verdict

[George Thompson]

"However, Paul is way wrong in supposing that a lot of people on this list get paid for fooling around with the OED."

Some of us suspect:
1) People on this list get paid.
2) People on this list spend their time fooling with the OED and looking for Google hits.
3) The boss hasn't caught on, yet.

GAT (safely retired)

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Date: Tuesday, November 2, 2010 1:19 pm
Subject: Re: Scottish verdict
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

> I think that Paul is quite right that "Scotch verdict" or "Scottish
> verdict" is not in OED.  It wasn't even in Black's Law Dictionary
> until recent editions, although it goes back at least as far as the
> 19th century (whoever the idiot is who supplied the dates of first use
> for Black's was way off on this one, giving a date of 1912).
>
> However, Paul is way wrong in supposing that a lot of people on this
> list get paid for fooling around with the OED.
>
> Fred
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
> Paul Frank [paulfrank at POST.HARVARD.EDU]
> Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2010 11:53 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Scottish verdict
>
> I heard someone refer to the "Scotch verdict" on the Beeb today - also
> known as the "Scottish verdict" or "Scots verdict," i.e. a verdict of
> "not proven." It's a term I've heard dozens of times over the past 30
> years. In Scotland (I used to have a Scottish girlfriend; she dumped
> me) some people call it the "bastard verdict."
>
> Now that I have a new hobby (for which read obsession), to wit,
> fooling-around-with-the-online-OED-when-I-ought-to-be-working-which-is-what-I-actually-get-paid-for,
> I see that the OED lists neither "Scotch verdict" nor "Scottish
> verdict" nor "bastard verdict." I want my money back. Just kidding.
> How do you guys ever get any work done with the OED only a click away?
> But,  wait, I forgot that fooling around with the OED is what you get
> paid for.
>
> Or is Scotch verdict in the OED and I'm just too dumb to find it?
>
> Paul
>
> Paul Frank
> Translator
> Chinese, German, French, Italian > English
> Espace de l'Europe 16
> Neuchâtel, Switzerland
> paulfrank at bfs.admin.ch
> paulfrank at post.harvard.edu
>
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>
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