That were hard to
compass;
Because
she will admit no kind of suit,
No,
not the duke’s.
-Captain
Twelfth Night; Or, What You Will Act I, Scene ii, Line 29
Twelfth Night, eh? Well I’ve been plucking random lines for two
years, and I’ve certainly picked a few from this play, but I still really don’t
have much of an idea what this play is all about. Now you might think that this
would be hard to compass, but really it was pretty easy. You see, lots of times
when I decide to post about a line from a play that I know little to nothing
about, I’ll just pick something else from the line to chat about. For
instance, in this case what about that word ‘compass’? Right here it’s a verb
and it means ‘to achieve’. It’s a bit archaic to be using it as a verb in 2018;
keep in mind that this line was written four hundred years ago. But in fact, if
you look it up on MerriamWebster.com you will see that definition #3 under the
transitive verb usage of the word ‘compass’ is ‘to achieve’. So there you go. And you thought that Will's works weren't written in modern English? Wrong.
You might have known that I'd throw a picture of a compass at you today. Yup, that's a compass sitting in the middle of my box o' memories to the right of my Darryl Strawberry/Vince Coleman ball. Funny thing: the top of this box, the end with the cassette tape on how to meditate (I don't use that much these days, regrettably) is facing north. That means the compass is pointing southwest. I guess this compass is getting old and losing it's sense of direction. I kind of feel that way myself sometimes.
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