[Ads-l] _try to_ vs. _try and_

[Robin Hamilton]

While it may impact on our well-beloved try-and-or-to, this draws on the earlier
(14thC on) sense of "try", as 'to test' (as e.g. found in the coat of arms of
the Cornish  Trevelyan family, "Tyme tryeth troth"), with "tried" (flagged as
"adj" in the OED) a participial adjective rather than a verb.

The OED gives 1954 for their first citation of "tried and true", which seems to
me rather late.

So a horse of a different colour galloping in the wrong direction.

As Arthur Wellesley, later booted and spurred, said, "Don't try and ride me,
jimmy. Just because I was born in a stable doesn't mean I'm a horse."

Robin Hamilton

> 
>     On 12 November 2016 at 02:02 W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> 
>     WB: Furthermore, I wonder if the phrase <a tried 'n' true method> figures
>     into the <try to V> ~ <try 'n' V> comparandum. I.e. why I feel that <try
>     'n'> is melius sensu and that <try to> is peius sensu. (Try 'n' look that
>     up in yer Manu Leumann!)
> 
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