How come nobody ever says "Aroint thee!" anymore?

struggle4progress

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Sun May-09-10 10:32 PM
Original message

How come nobody ever says "Aroint thee!" anymore?

Back in my more genteel and cultured days, I once heard it said with great authority that "to aroint" was something like "to drive away by flinging monkey poo" -- but the internet is merely telling me that the meaning of the word is "obscure"

Shed some like on this, folks

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MiddleFingerMom

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Sun May-09-10 10:42 PM
Response to Original message

1. All I know is...

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haele

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Mon May-10-10 03:01 PM
Response to Original message

2. Seriously, I'm pretty sure it's an olde-timey way of saying "run off with you".

I've seen something similar - "rynt-thee hame" (run thee home)written in a bawdy 14th song about a girl in the fields watching her cows back when I was doing re-creation. Every time I've seen the word "Aroint", there was a suggestion of harm or misfortune if one didn't GTFOOT.

I guess "flinging monkey poo to drive away" is just as good an explanation.

Haele

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Dr Morbius

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Mon May-10-10 03:17 PM
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3. Verily, one would opine there has been a decline in the language itself.

Prithee, what wouldst thou recommend?

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Orsino

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Mon May-10-10 03:25 PM
Response to Original message

4. First known published use is Shakespeare's.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=aroint

intr. verb, c.1600, used by Shakespeare (only in imperative: "begone!"), obsolete and of obscure origin. "{T}he subject of numerous conjectures, none of which can be said to have even a prima facie probability."

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Dr. Strange

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Mon May-10-10 03:34 PM
Response to Original message

5. They do.

It just keeps getting edited out by the network censors.

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WinkyDink

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Mon May-10-10 08:42 PM
Response to Original message

6. Or "rump-fed runyon!" Well, except for me. :-)

Edited on Mon May-10-10 08:46 PM by WinkyDink

Taught "Macbeth" a few million times.

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