On Sun, 7 Jan 2007 21:18:07 +0000 Brad Rogers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Because it /should/ be "toe the line". No, no. When you "tow the line" you join the team pulling narrowboats along the British canal system on the towpath (note, not the "toe path"). The "navvies" (or navigators), the people who actually carved out the canal system in the early 18th century used this expression a lot. Later on, horses were (sometimes) used for pulling the narrowboats and barges, but you still needed to join the team to "tow the line" (pull the rope or "line" attached to the narrowboat) or it could not move properly. Hence an individual could not do as he wished but had to join the team. There were Regulations about how narrowboats could be managed, and these were imposed by Acts of Parliament; one of those Regulations includes the phrase "tow the line". It seems that this phrase was taken up by the military, whether British or American, and changed to the crude "toe the line", but its origins are quite clear. "Tow the line" is thus the correct early usage. However, as this topic concerns itself about etymology in the production of documents, let me add my favourite hate: program instead of programme (Alan Turing would have turned in his grave!). But being an "old duffer" weeks away from my 60th birthday, I suppose I am stuck in the past a bit.... I don't suppose we can do much about it now, and the only advice I can give to the compiler of the documentation is to use words and phrases that are instantly recognisable by his target audience but which at the same time can be "translated" by computer software correctly to bring the same or nearly the same meaning in other languages. -- Graham
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