rash = 'critically decisive'

[Laurence Horn]

Perhaps influenced by the Shakespearean uses, obsolete though they be:

'operating quickly and powerfully' [OED †2]
Henry IV, Pt. 2 iv. iii. 48   Though it doe worke as strong, As Aconitum, or rash gunpowder.
Winter's Tale i. ii. 321,   I could doe this,‥with no rash Potion, But with a lingring Dram.

'urgent' [OED †3]
Troilus & Cressida iv. ii. 63,   I scarce haue leisure to salute you, My matter is so rash.

OK, maybe neither of these are quite equivalent to 'quick' or 'sudden' per se. But the cognates of _rash_ in Old Frisian, Middle Dutch, Middle Low German, etc. do seem to mostly signify 'quick, hurried' and not necessarily 'impetuous, reckless'.  And we know how well-schooled in the medieval and early modern Germanic varieties television journalists tend to be.

LH


On Mar 30, 2012, at 12:50 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> Or maybe it just means 'sudden.' Like that would be much of an improvement.
> 
> JL
> 
> On Fri, Mar 30, 2012 at 12:24 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      rash = 'critically decisive'
>> 
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> A CNN journalist narrates the story of a schoolbus driver who saved lives
>> by turning around and taking the bus back to the school rather than drive
>> it straight into a giant, whirling tornado.
>> 
>> I know. But that's not the point. The point is that the narration includes
>> the phrase: "Then she made a rash decision" to turn back.
>> 
>> 
>> JL
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
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> 
> 
> 
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
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