XPost: alt.books.cs-lewis, alt.usage.english   
   From: mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk   
      
   Mark Barratt wrote:   
   > Mike Lyle wrote:   
   [...]   
   >> Google Books very surprisingly has 852 "hare-brained" and no fewer   
   >> than 757 "hair-brained". I'm sure the capillary version is a   
   >> mistake, though clearly not always a typo. OED gives "hare-" as   
   >> standard, but says "The spelling /hair-brain/, suggesting another   
   >> origin for the compound, is later, though occasional before 1600."   
   >>   
   >> I've often seen hares being apparently hare-brained, and am quite   
   >> confident that their behaviour is the origin.   
   >   
   > Which merely says that you prefer etymological theories which agree   
   > with what unresearched logic would say, to those which have been   
   > researched.   
   [...]   
      
   It merely says nothing of the sort. It says my direct observations   
   support my agreement with "Having or showing no more 'brains' or sense   
   than a hare; heedless, reckless; rash, wild, mad." If you don't think   
   that definition was adequately researched, you should make your case to   
   the OED, from which it is a quotation.   
      
   --   
   Mike.   
      
      
      
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