Good Morning ADD Irregulars, WSN Vagabonds, Friends, Refugees, Early Birds, Later Dayers, Conversants, Lurkers, PHAM, Dawn Patrol, Triggeratti, Merry Bigots, Fascinating People, Seekers of Sanity & Civility and all the rest of you Supporters and Members out there in Local-landia, all of my Digital Neighbors, Happy Tuesday Autumnal Friends! More fun from the world of Endangered Phrases thanks to Steven Price.

Bar sinister: a coat of arms ornamentation that is supposedly a sign of illegitimacy.

The phrase, which has appeared in the works of novelists Laurence Sterne and Sir Walter Scott, implies a “bar” that prevents the person from a legitimate claim or inheritance, while “sinister” (the heraldic term for a coat of arms’ left side) sounds menacing.

Although the idea of a bar sinister on an illegitimate person’s shield entered popular speech more than two centuries ago, that’s not heraldically correct. A patterned border around a shield was the British heraldry way of indicating bastardy, and if you want to be even more technical, a thin diagonal line that does not touch the edges of the shield is a “baton,” not a “bar.” However, people rarely check with the College of Arms before using words and phrases.

Bar Sinster, Snidely Whiplash. Snake Oiler, and other such comical names for villains were always trying to steal the girl to make her love him and then tie her to the train tracks when she doesn't. Of course Snake Oiler was just a dubious driver of race cars but we are all sure that Inspector Detector was on the case of the Car Acrobatic Team (Coolest racing team EVER!!!!) One of the real joys of playing Role Playing Games is making all the NPCs (Non-Player Characters all managed by the hosting game or dungeon master.) and having fun with their names. Jib Malice, Captain Gutripper, Mirage Darkmoor and other memorable names and fleshing out their personalities, motives and desires.

Beat around the bush: to speak evasively or misleadingly, or to stall or waste time.

To flush pheasants and other birds so they could be shot, British gamekeepers hired beaters who would swing sticks at likely places where the birds might be lurking. Not to go directly to such foliage but to work around it instead gave the impression of wasting time or not trying very hard to raise the birds; hence, beating around the bush.

Get to the point already! There is always a bit of skepticism of in my mind whenever I hear specialized vocabulary in speeches or in writing when it could be stated with greater clarity by the use of familiar words. It is great to learn new words, I am a fan of the joys of language, but when discussing ideas simple and direct is always better than baffling the listen with stylized bullshit that shows either the command of the vocabulary or at least a the good use of a thesaurus. I am a fan of repetitive use of phrase so that one might convey the meaning as much as possible. Obscurity, misdirection and confusion are always at the service of some sort of evil, much like Bar Sinister, but clarity tilts towards serving the good. Not always, but often. People who manipulate terms and constantly churn and warp the meaning of things (Journalist, Academics, Big Tech, Government Careerists, and Wokertainment) are at best at the service of self and at worst commit evil all the while believing they are actually good and enlightened. I know that is a launching pad for me to rant about the CABAL, but I think I have rambled enough this morning. Thanks for the indulgence. - your friendly neighborhood Friar.

November snowfall from Flickr