Re: Will steal a sheep

jerry_friedman@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Nov 13, 5:05 pm, "Mike Lyle" <mike_lyle...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

[Anybody that'll take a dare will steal a sheep.]

I've been wondering, like CDB, if we're stuck on the wrong sense of
"take" here, and I've just about convinced myself. It would make
perfect sense if Twain intended the "submit to" meaning. OED does
have that meaning, of course; but not with "dare". As, however, I
scrolled wearily through a very long entry, I noticed a baseball
use of the word: a batter "takes" a pitch by not playing a stroke
at it

*cough* "not swinging at it" (or for some, "on" it).

This usage also resembles taking a punch, a blow, taking shit from
someone. (Hint based on an article in the local paper some years
ago: If someone threatens you with a gun, don't say, "I'll take the
bullet. You don't have the balls to shoot me.")

(the cricket
equivalent is "leave a ball"). That seems similar to not accepting
a challenge.

Who'da thunk it? The Century Dictionary says, "*To take a dare,* to
receive a challenge without accepting it. [Colloq.] It was not
consonant with the honor of such a man as Bob to take a dare ; so
against first one and then another aspiring hero he had fought..."
You and Charles each get to steal a sheep.

Cool. Mine is headed for a long and happy life at the sanctuary,
where he will knit party favours for the barbecue guests. In due
course, he may will them a gigot or two.

http://books.google.com/books?id=ebECAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1455

Lower left of the page. Good thing they've got a magnifying icon.

Thank you. URL duly bookmarked.


.

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