serendipidous --> freeholder

[Ben Zimmer]

Useful history here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_of_chosen_freeholders


On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 3:03 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> I'm more interested in "freeholder" below.  In my experience (17th
> and 18th centuries), a freeholder was someone who owned real property
> (in "freehold estate").  But the below passage seems to attach some
> meaning to "freeholder" that eludes me.  Being a freeholder seems
> very unrelated to the reason for removal, which I gather is having
> been placed in the wrong position (although it's not clear to me
> whether the passage means on on the ballot for or in the count of the
> final election).
>
> Being a freeholder used to qualify one to vote and hold office, but
> it's hard for me to believe that there is such a real property
> requirement in any county in NJ today.  (In any case, that still
> seems unrelated to the reason for removal.)
>
> But perhaps I'm wrong -- after all, there is "Housewives of New Jersey".
>
> Joel
>
> At 2/8/2012 03:54 AM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
> >I see this as an odd use of serendipidous--others might disagree. But
> >let me get to the point.
> >
> >A NJ Appeals Court has removed a "freeholder" from the county board
> >because of a previous judicial screwup that placed her above another
> >Republican candidate who had beaten her in the primary (albeit by a
> >small margin). The county is heavily Republican, so the presumption has
> >been all along that the winner of the primary would win the election
> >(she did). So now that she's been removed, there will have to be a
> >nominating convention to place someone in her office, then another
> >primary and another general election in November, in order to fill the
> >remainder of her term. Her response:
> >
> >http://goo.gl/6K3GY
> >>"One thing I've learned is that politics is a very serendipitous
> >>business," Nordstrom said. "My understanding right now is that I'm not
> >>a freeholder. You have to take it in stride. I'm taking it one step at
> >>a time."
> >
> >Why "serendipitous"? How is this a happy coincidence? Did she simply
> >mean "unexpected"? Then why use the big words?
> >

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