Path: ...!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Robert Carnegie Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Re: Dr Mirabolis: Blish's Baconian bookend Date: Mon, 1 Jul 2024 17:02:52 +0100 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 12 Message-ID: References: <20240625a@crcomp.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Injection-Date: Mon, 01 Jul 2024 18:02:52 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="27514dd6f00ececd7b01636cf9af7220"; logging-data="1218310"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18+Kf3ZO2ub7XTHYytAbVZfpUOauAjvoGk=" User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Cancel-Lock: sha1:h52EON0JldsyP9m0k/aApdicKnc= Content-Language: en-GB In-Reply-To: <20240625a@crcomp.net> Bytes: 1391 Investigating the phrase "more X than you can/could shake a stick at" is broadly fruitless, per Though the suggestion that somehow it's about William Shakespeare, is interesting. It is not what "Shakespeare" was based on unless he was invented after 1818, as probably someone is claiming.