Re: CHAT: Worse Greek 102 (was: Bad Latin 101)

Eric Christopherson scripsit:

> I'm afraid I've actually said the ignominious word myself, but realized just
> seconds later that it was originally a verb. Who makes nouns out of 1st
> plural verbs anyway??
In this case, it comes from the standard return of a grand jury (in the
old days) when they decided that there was insufficient evidence to indict
someone of a crime:  *Ignoramus* (we do not know).

Since the Crown's lawyers were typically socially superior to the jurors,
they began to use the term "ignoramus" to refer to grand jurors who
refused to do what the gentleman-attorneys expected of them (namely
to indict).  The term then spread to anyone without education.

Nowadays, grand juries simply return "a true bill" if they indict, or
"no true bill" if they don't.

        A New York grand jury would indict a ham sandwich
        if the D[istrict] A[ttorney] asked it to.
                --variously attributed

--
John Cowan                                   cowan@ccil.org
One art/there is/no less/no more/All things/to do/with sparks/galore
        --Douglas Hofstadter