Today's Daily Dispatch

‘FAMILY’ HISTORY?

Posted December 19, 2008

In the round of familial phrases there was a discussion of the “Grandfather Clause.” The possible origin of the idea and the phrase, though I could not swear to that—comes from the post-Reconstruction South.  States seeking to disfranchise black citizens created all sorts of new voting requirements.  There were literacy tests and poll taxes and, sometimes, a grandfather clause stating that to be eligible to vote you had to be able to show evidence that your grandfather had voted in an election prior to a given date carefully chosen to predate the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment.  Those setting these new rules knew quite well that they were unconstitutional but the federal government declined to intervene at the time.

Zoe Sherman of Brighton, MA

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‘RAMP’ PARSE

Posted December 12, 2011

I listened to today’s show and the question about ‘ramp up.’ But the correct answer isn’t the one anyone gave: The word ‘ramp’ comes from the French verb ‘ramper’--to crawl. When you see a lion ‘rampant’, he is ‘crawling’ in the air with his feet. A ramp for someone who crawls rather than walks. A ramp rises gradually and gave us the word for raising or ‘stepping up’ an effort.

Deborah Warren of Andover, MA

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WE RUE OUR ANSWER

Posted November 15, 2011

I love “Says You,” so it pains me to say that you got an answer slightly wrong on the November 13 broadcast. The murderer in “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” is not a gorilla, as you would have it, but an orangutan, or “Ourang-Outang” Poe refers to the animal. The species of the offending creature is essential to the story, so I hope you will revisit and correct this question in a future show.

Thanks for your wonderful show!

Deborah Robbins of San Francisco, CA

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