XPost: alt.usage.english, rec.puzzles, alt.fan.holmes   
   From: HenHanna@devnull.tb   
      
   On 6/22/2024 9:24 AM, lar3ryca wrote:   
   > 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.   
   >   
      
   Apparently that sense of [The game]  was weak    back then.   
      
      
      
   Has there been a shift in meaning of [game]?   
                         from target-animal to fun-competition?   
      
      
                 ----------- You're absolutely right! The meaning of "game"   
   has indeed shifted over time, with a clear move from referring to hunted   
   animals to the concept of fun and competition.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)