Stich – not Stitch – Makes a Wordsmith Twitch!
A stich in time saves nine lines of
proper prose. Oh … that isn’t how it goes?
Heehee … you Boomers will recognize a butchered
version of the ol’ adage, “A stitch in time saves nine.”*
Thought I misspelled “stitch”?
Nope – instead of saving stitches, we’ll pull your string with a line …
Example:
Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget'st
so long …
[Shakespeare’s “Sonnet C”
(#100) that many a writer knows by heart.]
So it’s almost spelled like “stitch” and it’s
pronounced like “stick.” Go figure.
As much as I love words and meanings, I often
wish our English language was a tad less complicated, don’t you? Phonetics anyone?
Word of the Week: STICH. Can you fit it into your own line of prose?
*SIDE NOTE: Are you wondering how the adage originated?
According to Phrases.org,
“This proverbial expression was obviously
meant as an incentive to the lazy. It's especially gratifying that 'a stitch in
time saves nine' is an anagram for 'this is meant as incentive'!” Cool! Love it
when there are mysteries and hidden meanings of language. Enjoy!
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