Re: CHAT smite (was: Performative verbs)

David Peterson wrote:

> Ray wrote:
>
> <<But this side of the Pond, "smote" is only the preterite; the past
> participle here is "smitten" and is not particularly rare.>>
>
> In one of the classes I TA'd for a list of the rarest irregular verbs in
> English.  I can't remember a lot of them, and when I find the handout,
> I'll post some, but one I *do* remember is "beshit" (whose past tense
> is formed with an "a").  Certainly that one won't be in the Bible and is
> probably *much* rarer than "to smite", which is now, I'd argue, quite
> frequently used for its humor value (i.e., it's archaic, and therefore
> funny).

Curse him!  He beshat me!