[lit-ideas] Re: "For ever and [a d]ay"
- From: "Julie Krueger" <juliereneb@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2007 20:27:54 -0500
Interesting. "Forever and a day" is one of the few colloquialisms which I
have thought was fairly clear as an emphasis of the infinite duration of
something .... not only forever, but beyond that, forever plus a day more
...
Julie Krueger
On 10/14/07, Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx <Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> JK:
> "Whenever I hear the "forever and a day" phrase, I immediately start
> humming
> Those Were the Days, My Friend.....a song my Dad loved to sing "
>
> Interesting. The OED suggests that "for ever and a day" may be a
> corruption of "for ever and ay", as in
>
>
> *1300* *Cursor M.* 6218 (Cott.)
>
> [image: {Th}]is folk..[image: {Th}]at suld vs serue for euer and ai.
> **
> *====*
> **
> *Geary will possibly agree, seeing that 'for ever and ever -- Amen" is in
> the Lord's Prayer (which was known to the Anglo-Saxons). *
> **
> *For some reason, after Sternhold is registered as first using 'for ever
> and +THE D+ay" version, it caught on. Once it entered the Shakespeare
> repertoire, it was bound to spread. *
> **
> *Carlyle was possibly trying to be funny. He was a Scot, and he possibly
> thought that to stick to the original "for ever and ay" would make it sound
> too archaic -- provincial even.*
> **
> *While The Listener is not your London Times, so they _would_ use the
> expression without giving much thought to it.*
> **
> *Cheers,*
> **
> *JL *
> **
> *1549-62*
> STERNHOLD<http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-s4.html#sternhold>&
> H.<http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-h.html#h>
> *Ps.* lxxvii. 8 Is his goodnesse cleane decayd for euer and a day?
> **
> *1596*
> SHAKES.<http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-s2.html#shakes>
> *Tam. Shr.* IV. iv. 97 Farewell for euer and a day.
> **
> *1823*
> CARLYLE<http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-c.html#carlyle>
> *Let.* 28 Sept. (1886) II. 225 One youth was to go to Germany, the other
> to Oxford, and I to take my leave I supposed for ever and a day.
> **********
> *1967* *Listener* 18 May 656/3 How else can one explain why the Second
> Reform Bill of 1867 did not sweep the Conservatives from power for ever and
> a day?
> **
> J. L. Speranza, Esq.
>
> Town:
>
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> Fax 54 221 425 9205
>
> Country:
>
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> Tel. 54 221 425 7817
> Fax 54 221 425 9205
> http://www.stmichaels.com.ar
>
> jls@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
> http://www.netverk/~jls.htm <http://www.netverk/%7Ejls.htm>
>
>
>
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