Wordie: Wit: Comments

Comment by bilby, 3 days ago

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 10:11:36 +0000

When cats run home and light is come,
And dew is cold upon the ground,
And the far-off stream is dumb,
And the whirring sail goes round,
And the whirring sail goes round;
Alone and warming his five wits,
The white owl in the belfry sits.
- Alfred Tennyson, 'Song: The Owl'.

Comment by bilby, 3 months ago

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 03:47:34 +0000

See citation on citation.

Comment by qroqqa, 3 months ago

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:47:36 +0000

The very last trace of an infinitive verb in English. The expression 'to wit' is no longer analysable in Present-Day English, but the 'wit' part was once the infinitive of a verb meaning "know" whose gerund-participle survives in the adjectives 'witting' and 'unwitting', and whose first and third person singular present 'wot' survives in the archaic exclamations 'I wot not' and 'God wot'.

The reason present tense 'wot' lacks an -s in the third person is that it is, if you go far enough back up the Indo-European family tree, a perfect tense. The present tense meant see (cf. Latin video) and the perfect "I have seen" was used for the meaning "I know".

Comment by frindley, 8 months ago

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:21:37 +0000

John Donne: in whom wit is truth.

Comment by brtom, 11 months ago

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 03:02:40 +0000

For my part, I own, madam, wit loses its respect with me, when I see it in company with malice.
Sheridan, School for Scandal

Comment by kewpid, about 1 year ago

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 14:04:10 +0000

“…nothing more than an incisive observation, humorously phrased and delivered with impeccable timing.”

I think its a pretty valuable attribute.

Also like the phrase "to wit" without being clear exactly what it means...

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 13:57:41 +0000

Comment by SonofGroucho, about 1 year ago

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 06:13:07 +0000

Sarcasm is said to be the lowest form, but I quite like it!