Heard on Castle: "=?utf-8?Q?=E2=80=A6_was_=5Fsmited_in_two=5F=22=3B_=22=E2=80=A6_?=was _cleaved in two_" [NT] (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

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Yeah, I would think you cleave with a blade, but smite with a blunt instrument (or the mighty hand of God -- one or the other).

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Wilson Gray
> Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 8:23 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Heard on Castle: "… was _smited in two_"; "… was _cleaved
> in two_" [NT] (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
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> On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 11:16 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
> <Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
> > Isn't the past tense of smite "smote"?
>
> Yes. But, for me, even "was smitten _in two_" is odd, though "was cleft
> in twain" is okay. The conversation was about a body found cleft in
> twain and, IMO, "smiting" someone doesn't leave his body "smited"
> in two any more than shooting him leaves his body "shooted" in two
> does.
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
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