What is 'shrift'? Do we ever use that word, except in this phrase?
Edit: Oops! This message has been edited. Last edited by: shufitz,
February 07, 2007, 10:16
stella
Would you call a short shift a Freudian slip, Shufitz?
I often use 'short shrift', but have never thought about where it came from.
February 07, 2007, 12:19
arnie
It comes from the verb shrive, meaning 'to give penance and absolution'. 'Short shrift' was originally the brief time for a condemned criminal to confess before execution. See The Online Etymology Dictionary.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
February 07, 2007, 14:00
Myth Jellies
I first came across Officer Short Shrift when I was a lad; it was in Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth. A pity that book didn't win any awards.
Myth Jellies Cerebroplegia--the cure is within our grasp
February 07, 2007, 18:56
Kalleh
A lad? That's a term we don't often use. I am sorry, Myth; I've forgotten where you are from.
Arnie, that is really interesting. I hadn't known that.