_Fag_ = "a horse for easy riding" or some such?

[Joel S. Berson]

At 2/21/2011 01:35 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
>Isn't "two bottles of port" a euphemism for excessive drinking? I recall
>somebody having been said to die of "two bottles of port and a chair",
>meaning gout derived from heavy drinking and associated inactivity.
>
>DanG

And in "SAYS Sir Toby" there is the allusion to Toby Belch.

Joel


>On Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 3:47 PM, Sarah <puellaest at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Sarah <puellaest at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: _Fag_ = "a horse for easy riding" or some such?
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On 2011-02-19, at 9:44 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      Re: _Fag_ = "a horse for easy riding" or some such?
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > On Sat, Feb 19, 2011 at 10:01 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> > >
> > >> Fag, n.1, sense 2.a.: Â "In English public
> > >> schools, a junior who performs certain duties for a senior."
> > >>
> > >
> > > Dern (Both Bruce and Laura)! I know that! Oh, well.
> >
> >
> > Trying to pin it down to one sense seems to be in opposition with there
> > rather clever, if excessive punning found throughout the epigram.
> >
> > That said, the desired "nag" is that which "[will] serve as a fag."
> > Syntactically, the following "one" refers back to "nag" and not "fag"
> > (likewise "ride very quiet applies to "fag"
> not "nag"). As such, there is no
> > evidence in the poem to clarify the meaning of "fag." A "fag" is simply how
> > Sir Toby wishes the nag to serve [him].
> >
> > My question is regarding "_two bottles of port_." I have a hard time
> > reading this simply and only as "two containers that hold an alcoholic
> > beverage," but I have no evidence for another sense. Is/Are there
> > another/others (I'm thinking along the lines of that which would make the
> > nag unable or unwilling to "carry a child" [again any and all senses]), or
> > (esp. as "sort" more properly refers back to "child" and not "nag") is the
> > emphasis there to end the punning and the poem?
> >
> > Another question, did anyone else think it odd just how many cricket terms
> > are in there? (Or is that further evidence of a school-type setting?)
> >
> > Best,
> > S.
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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