Meaning and origin of phrase "at my rope's end" (?)
FACE
Does anyone know the meaning and/or origin of the phrase"at my ropes end".
Thanks,
FACE
libreria
> Does anyone know the meaning and/or origin of the phrase"at my ropes end".
Apart from the obvious imagery of someone dangling over a cliff clinging
to a fraying rope with nowhere to go...there is the other usages of
"rope's end"....
...
A rope's end. A short length of rope bound at the end with thread, and
used for punishing.
~dictionary definition
ANTIPHOLUS OF EPHESUS. While I go to the goldsmith's house, go
thou
And buy a rope's end; that will I bestow
Among my wife and her confederates,
For locking me out of my doors by day.
But, soft, I see the goldsmith. Get thee gone;
Buy thou a rope, and bring it home to me.
DROMIO OF EPHESUS. I buy a thousand pound a year; I buy a rope.
~ WS 1564-1616, The Comedy of Errors, IV,i
And if you get really hung up there is....
...
Oh! they’ll cost me an estate in hempen collars. For I hereby promise
to furnish them with twice enough as much as will do their business, on
free cost, as often as they will take the pains to dance at ropes end,
providently to save charges, to the small disappointment to the finisher
of the law.
~François Rabelais, c.1494 - 1553, Gargantua et Pantagruel
--
//libreria
_____________________________________
Kenneth s.
When I lived in Britain, the expression that people used was
"I'm at the end of my tether." The picture was that of a tethered
animal that had reached the limit of its grazing area, and therefore
was desperate. People on this side of the Atlantic seem to say: "I'm
at the end of my rope."
FACE
<nim...@verizon.net> in glistered weave wrote large for all to see:
Thank you to libreria and Kenneth. I believe I have a broader understanding
of the phrase and it's usage now.
FACE
SteveMR200
<Ik4Xk.1045$Et1...@news-server.bigpond.net.au>:
>On Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:41:14 -0500, FACE wrote in message:
><m47oi45pmrc6ev3pv...@4ax.com>:
>
>> Does anyone know the meaning and/or origin of the phrase
>>"at my ropes end".
>_______________________________________________________
>
>Apart from the obvious imagery of someone dangling over a cliff
>clinging to a fraying rope with nowhere to go...there is the
>other usages of "rope's end"....
You never had a rope around your neck. Well, I'm
going to tell you something. When that rope starts
to pull tight, you can feel the Devil bite your ass.
--"Tuco" (Eli Wallach)
(In the film, _The Good, The Bad And The Ugly_ [1966];
screenplay by Luciano Vincenzoni, Sergio Leone, et. al)
--
Steve
tmw
> When I lived in Britain, the expression that people used was
> "I'm at the end of my tether." The picture was that of a tethered
> animal that had reached the limit of its grazing area, and therefore
> was desperate. People on this side of the Atlantic seem to say: "I'm
> at the end of my rope."
If we value the pursuit of knowledge, we must be free to follow wherever
that search may lead us. The free mind is not a barking dog, to be
tethered on a ten-foot chain.
~Adlai E. Stevenson Jr 1900-65, speech at the University of Wisconsin,
(October 8, 1952)
--
//tmw
_____________________________________
SteveMR200
<KbFXk.1505$Et1....@news-server.bigpond.net.au>:
>If we value the pursuit of knowledge, we must be free to follow wherever
>that search may lead us. The free mind is not a barking dog, to be
>tethered on a ten-foot chain.
>~Adlai E. Stevenson Jr 1900-65, speech at the University of Wisconsin,
> (October 8, 1952)
Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix
is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your
last chance. After this, there is no turning back.
You take the blue pill--the story ends, you wake
up in your bed and believe whatever you want to
believe. You take the red pill--you stay in
Wonderland and I show you how deep the
rabbit hole goes.
--"Morpheus" (Laurence Fishburne)
(In the film _The Matrix_ [1999], written and
directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski)
--
Steve
