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As every new thread discussing the possible separation of Scotland underlines - there are so very many aspects that don;t appear to have been considered, even in passing, by the Wallaces who are painting their faces blue as I type.
Can no-one see that the confusion and the final un-thought-of consequences make this notion so very dangerous, and nothing like as simple and profitable as Mr Salmond seems to like to think - or at least tell people, which is probably not the same thing?
Can no-one see that the confusion and the final un-thought-of consequences make this notion so very dangerous, and nothing like as simple and profitable as Mr Salmond seems to like to think - or at least tell people, which is probably not the same thing?
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"On the lam" or "on the run" often refers to fugitives. Mencken's The American Language and The Thesaurus of American Slang proclaim that lam, lamister, and "on the lam" — all referring to a hasty departure — were common in thieves' slang before the turn of the 20th century. Mencken quotes a newspaper report on the origin of 'lam' which actually traces it indirectly back to Shakespeare's time.
Its origin should be obvious to anyone who runs over several colloquial phrases for leavetaking, such as 'beat it' and 'hit the trail'. The allusion in 'lam' is to 'beat,' and 'beat it' is Old English, meaning 'to leave.' During the period of George Ade's 'Fables in Slang' (1900), cabaret society delight in talking slang, and 'lam' was current. Like many other terms, it went under in the flood of new usages of those days, but was preserved in criminal slang. A quarter of a century later it reappeared.
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Its origin should be obvious to anyone who runs over several colloquial phrases for leavetaking, such as 'beat it' and 'hit the trail'. The allusion in 'lam' is to 'beat,' and 'beat it' is Old English, meaning 'to leave.' During the period of George Ade's 'Fables in Slang' (1900), cabaret society delight in talking slang, and 'lam' was current. Like many other terms, it went under in the flood of new usages of those days, but was preserved in criminal slang. A quarter of a century later it reappeared.
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