XPost: alt.usage.english, rec.puzzles, alt.fan.holmes   
   From: larry@invalid.ca   
      
   On 2024-06-21 23:47, Tilde wrote:   
   > 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.   
      
   I always took it to mean the entire interaction/contest between the   
   detective and perp.   
      
   --   
    From listening comes wisdom and from speaking, repentance.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)