[HPFGU-OTChatter] Another Britspeak need some help WAS Re: Peeling Sprouts?

[Katherine Coble]

On Jul 22, 2005, at 7:10 AM, Sue Wartell wrote:

>
>
>> Valky wrote:
>>
>> HI all,
>>
>> On the main list, someone asked for an explanation
>> of "after a fashion".
>>
>>
>> Lynn:
>>
>> This is a phrase used in the US as well though
>> perhaps by more mature people.
>
> Now Sue:
>
> an equivalent phrase would be "in a way" - a
> technically true but incomplete description of
> something.
>

The Ernest Dowson poem "Cynara" is a good example of usage

"I have been faithful to thee, Cynara, in my fashion."

I've always considered it to be the equivalent of saying "in a manner 
of speaking".

The phrase itself has been around since the sixteenth century but seems 
to have acquired its renaissance in the 19th century where it was most 
often used in the context of wry commentary, such as in the Dowson 
poem.

Katherine the word geek