XPost: alt.usage.english, rec.puzzles, alt.fan.holmes   
   From: invalide@invalid.invalid   
      
   HenHanna wrote:   
   >   
   > The game is afoot.   
      
   Henry V, Act III, Scene I   
      
   I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,   
   Straining upon the start. The game’s afoot.   
      
   >               When SH said it, [the game] was the Perp?   
      
   Yes, but...   
      
   > WHY, then, today we often think of it as:   
   >   
   >             [The fun match has started] ?   
   >   
   >   [The Game] as   a board-game, a friendly match....   
   >                (a competition, a fun activity)   
   >                              something  to be   
   played?   
   >   
   > Did the meaning of the [game] change?   
      
   As a law enforcement detective type, Holmes not   
   only means by game the Perp where game means a   
   hunter's quarry , but can also mean whatever   
   scheme the Perp has in play. In a philosophical   
   sense it is also The Game.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)