Fwd: dodge Pompey

[Joel S. Berson]

At 7/2/2012 05:15 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
>We agree, except for one point. I have an idea for why dodging cannonballs
>might be like dodging Pompey -- that French cannonballs flew high, like
>rocks from a volcano. Yes, it's unsubstantiated.

Ah, rocks -- I had only envisioned fiery emissions, but that didn't
fit cannonballs.

>Garson, one of the derivations I posted for Portsmouth = Pompey is a
>captured French prison ship Le Pompee used in Portsmouth as a prison ship.
>It might also feed the use of Pompey to refer to "the authorities" or the
>penalties they mete out, and dodging Pompey to mean dodging the authorities
>(who make you work) but that is pure speculation.

Le Pompee -- prison ship -- used in Portsmouth -- serving hard time
-- strict prison authorities -- evading work:   Not implausible.

Joel

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