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Re: Patriarchy, evolution, etc.
Doug Weller (dweller@RAMTOPS.DEMON.CO.UK)
Sat, 16 Mar 1996 22:25:01 GMT
In message <Pine.HPP.3.91.960316163016.21498B-100000@falstaff.ucs.indiana.edu> thomas w kavanagh recently said:
> Webster's:
>
> ilk
> Scottish
> (obsolete): same, like;
> from a misunderstanding of the phrase "of that ilk", in Scotland, meaning
> (1) of the same name, as "Macdonald of that ilk," meaning Macdonald of
> Macdonald, hence (2) of the same class or kind.
And that's a common misunderstanding. Macdonald of that ilk means
Macdonald, Laird of Macdonald, ie 'of that ilk' means 'of that estate'
*not* 'of that family'. Hence if I were 'Weller of that ilk', I
would be Weller of Weller, with Weller being my estate (hopefully
with woods and a stream!).
The meaning 'of the same class of kind' is generally given first
in British dictionaries, but at times with a caveat that no
everyone approves of it's being used that way!
I've checked this in various dictionaries, including my 2 volume
Reader's Digest which is based on Houghton Mifflin's databases,
and of course Oxford.
--
Doug Weller
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