bishop

And whatever you do, never buy a horse from someone called bishop feague!

Gosh, this is a fun page. Poor sionnach. ;-)

I'm never speaking to you again.

Oh wait, I just did. Nevermind then.

P.S. Uselessness... that was a joke... *wan smile*

Well, I know that knight, king, queen, and pawn are verbs, so ...

But what bishop has to do with filing horse's teeth...

sionnach, was it named for the first (recorded) scoundrel to engage in the practice because his name was Bishop, or because he was a bishop? Any idea?

We can't date. You're already trying to control me. Remember your demand of me never ever to feed you on the poop? when I never even offered to feed you upon the poop? Hmph.

*turns away and folds arms*

You can take your butt paste and go now.

That's all very interesting and stuff, but remind me never to ask you out. ;-)

Yeah, it's the root of "episcopal" too.

Oh crap! Maybe I messed up! Maybe it's just "episcopal" and "periscope" that are related, and "bishop" has nothing to do with it.

Now who's the weird date? *hurries to look up etymology of "bishop"*

Oh, whew. I was right.

Well, the etymological relationship is so clear. They both have an "op" sequence in them, and they share an "s" and an "i." Who wouldn't have guessed that?

Also, getting back to the word "bishop," apparently it comes from the same root word as "periscope." I was told this by a linguistics major who was delighted at the mental image of a man in full episcopal regalia being thrust through the roof of a submarine.

He was a weird date.

Well, they have an excuse for chins, as I mentioned.

Guinea pigs have chins?

If you have horses, though, sometimes you need to float their teeth to grind down sharp edges.

All I know is if you filed my teeth down, I would be indignant. And you would be in the hospital for a very long time. ;-)

I'm not sure it actually hurts the horse at all, u. I could be wrong, but it seems to me like it would be similar to filing nails, or even cutting hair. I've seen on "Dirty Jobs" (Discovery Channel) how they clean up horses' feet and trim their hooves so they can walk comfortably. It looks terrifying but the horses don't mind a bit.

Our guinea pig once got long in the tooth (because he wasn't gnawing enough on hard things) and had to get his teeth clipped or filed or whatever it is they do. I was very worried about it and wondered if they'd have to knock him out, but he came right out no worse for the wear and quite happy.

With the added bonus of not having to drool parsley juice down his excuse for a chin anymore.

Sionnach, I wonder if this verb could be applied to someone who does this for a guinea pig as well, and if that person would still be considered a scoundrel, or just a veterinarian. Hmm...

Hey, that's a very good connection, skipvia! That phrase never did make sense to me. But I've gotta say, what a despicable deed is this bishoping. I'm not exactly what you might call an "animal person," but this sounds incredibly cruel even to me. Then again, I think I have an abnormal fear of scraping/filing body parts: teeth, toenails, elbow bones, jawbones... yeesh...

Fascinating!

Wow. I didn't know this word could be a verb. How velly intellesting...

So that the horse doesn't look long in the tooth, I presume?

Used as a verb, meaning to file down a horse's teeth, to deceive a buyer about the horse's age. Named for the first scoundrel to engage in the practice.