Scott’s School of Grammar: “Scott Free”

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I have been wondering about the origins of this phrase for quite some time. I finally took the time to research it, and the results were somewhat surprising. I’ll give you three possibilities, with the answer to follow in a soon-to-come comment:

1) Dred Scott was a black slave born in Virginia, USA in 1799. In several celebrated court cases, right up to the USA Supreme Court in 1857, he attempted to gain his freedom. These cases all failed but Scott was later made a free man by his ‘owners’, the Blow family. The etymology of this phrase shows the danger of trying to prove a case on circumstantial evidence alone.

2) The origin of the phrase “scott free” lies in the original wording, “scotch free”. “Scotch” is used in this sense to be a scratch, mar, or scar, particularly in a grid pattern. Similar uses of “scotch” in this context include “butterscotch”, (made with butter, has to be sliced up in the pan after cooling), “hop=scotch”, (a child’s game that in part involves “hop”-ping over grid lines /”scotches”) and “Scotch plaid”, (refering to the regular gridwork formed by the boundaries of the different colors/patterns). Hence, to escape “scott free” is emerge from a dangerous circumstance without even a scratch or mark, much less more severe damage.

3) The term is a contraction of ’scot and lot’. Scot was the tax and lot, or allotment, was the share given to the poor. Scot as a term for tax has been used since then to mean many different types of tax. Whatever the tax, the phrase ’scot free’ just refers to not paying one’s taxes

Answer to follow on Sunday 6/22/08

Comment your guess!

 

Published in: on June 20, 2008 at 3:09 pm Comments (3)
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Scott’s School of Grammar: The Adjective Comma

 

Another new edition to the site: Scott’s School of Grammar. 

It’s grammar taken seriously. 

Not that I’m a teacher, philologian, or anything of the sort, they are just good writing rules I’ve been re-learning lately.

The adjective comma was actually one my roommate asked; I responded, “use the and rule!“ and then realized that I myself had forgotten the and rule. In case you too have forgotten, here it is, 

Use a comma to separate two adjectives when the word and can be inserted between them.

Examples: He is a strong, healthy man.

We stayed at an expensive summer resort. You would not say expensive and summer resort, so no comma. 

(you can check out this and other comma rules here)       

psst..in case you forgot what an adjective is..

adjective - a word that modifies a noun, a.k.a. white in white house

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Grammar seems to be a theme in my life right now. I am currently reading a great book, The American Language by H.L. Mencken, that deals with the history of the American branch of English from colonial times to 1937. Apparently, there was a great hostility between the American and English branch of English that I was not aware of:

“I don’t go to the cinema often, but I had to be present at one a few days ago, when an American film was shown. The words and accent were perfectly disgusting, and there can be no doubt that such films are an evil influence on our language. It is said that 30,000,000 British people visit the cinemas every week. What is the use of spending millions on education if our young people listen to falsified English spoken every night?” -   Honorable William Graham, President of the Board of Trade

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Scott’s School of Grammar is an idea I have been kicking around for a while; the confluence of these 2 things - my roommate’s question, and the outrageous views spoken of in this book - motivated me to action. 

From now on, picture Conan the Librarian hanging over your shoulder as you edit your writing,

Don’t yu know the gram-mar usage? 

Published in: on June 16, 2008 at 9:45 pm Comments (1)
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