Some advice from the pros, please

[seminolewind]

That is pretty cool. Now if I use bated, I really know what it means .

 

[JFrankParnell]

I'm pretty sure it's baited breath. as in bait to lure something in. Like, if your breath was baited, you'd wait with your mouth open untill your prey was attracted all the way to your mouth, when you would snap your jaws shut.

If The Bard spelled it 'bated', well, thats just old school spelling. The 'abated' thing doesnt make any sense. Your breath was 'abated', as in gone? Like holding your breath?

 

[one_raven]

I'm pretty sure it's baited breath. as in bait to lure something in. Like, if your breath was baited, you'd wait with your mouth open untill your prey was attracted all the way to your mouth, when you would snap your jaws shut.
If The Bard spelled it 'bated', well, thats just old school spelling. The 'abated' thing doesnt make any sense. Your breath was 'abated', as in gone? Like holding your breath?

Nope.
It is bated.
Like when you are nervous or excited enough to be breathless.
Bate and bait are totally unrelated with different root words and they have both been around since at least 1300 CE.
It is true that the words "baited" and "bated" were both coined around the same time (1600 and 1596, respectively) though "bated" was never spelled "baited" and Shakepeare certainly knew what "bait" meant - he used it in at least a dozen plays and a few sonnets. He even used the word "baited" in the same play where he coined the phrase "bated breath" (Merchant of Venice) in Act 1, Scene 1.

GRATIANO
Let me play the fool:
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come,
And let my liver rather heat with wine
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans.
Why should a man, whose blood is warm within,
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster?
Sleep when he wakes and creep into the jaundice
By being peevish? I tell thee what, Antonio--
I love thee, and it is my love that speaks--
There are a sort of men whose visages
Do cream and mantle like a standing pond,
And do a wilful stillness entertain,
With purpose to be dress'd in an opinion
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit,
As who should say 'I am Sir Oracle,
And when I ope my lips let no dog bark!'
O my Antonio, I do know of these
That therefore only are reputed wise
For saying nothing; when, I am very sure,
If they should speak, would almost damn those ears,
Which, hearing them, would call their brothers fools.
I'll tell thee more of this another time:
But fish not, with this melancholy bait,
For this fool gudgeon, this opinion.
Come, good Lorenzo. Fare ye well awhile:
I'll end my exhortation after dinner.

He also used the word "bated" numerous times in his plays.

Merchant of Venice
Act 1, Scene 3:

SHYLOCK
Signior Antonio, many a time and oft
In the Rialto you have rated me
About my moneys and my usances:
Still have I borne it with a patient shrug,
For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe.
You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,
And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine,
And all for use of that which is mine own.
Well then, it now appears you need my help:
Go to, then; you come to me, and you say
'Shylock, we would have moneys:' you say so;
You, that did void your rheum upon my beard
And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur
Over your threshold: moneys is your suit
What should I say to you? Should I not say
'Hath a dog money? is it possible
A cur can lend three thousand ducats?' Or
Shall I bend low and in a bondman's key,
With bated breath and whispering humbleness, Say this;
'Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last;
You spurn'd me such a day; another time
You call'd me dog; and for these courtesies
I'll lend you thus much moneys'?

 

[Nuck]

It's bated but holy hell Raven..you REALLY went to town on it

 

[one_raven]

I held back with the root words, languages of origin and years of introduction - saving that in case I need more ammunition.

 

[JFrankParnell]

lol. ok buddy I tried to look up 'waiting in dark alleys with baited breath', something my dad used to say (referring to looking for or trying to find someone, or maybe in a 'bad part' of town, there might be evil doers waiting, etc), but found nothing.

 

[one_raven]

Aw man! I was all geared up to keep going.

 

[BlondieLocs]

The only time I've seen "baited breath" used correctly... ;-)

Geoffrey Taylor humorously (and consciously) captured it in verse in his poem Cruel Clever Cat:

Sally, having swallowed cheese,
Directs down holes the scented breeze,
Enticing thus with baited breath
Nice mice to an untimely death.

 

[JFrankParnell]

yeah, i think depending on the context, either one could be appropriate

 

[BlondieLocs]

Well, actually, Taylor wrote that poem in the 30s... and it was in jest. He was, in essence, mocking those who use the idiom incorrectly.

 

[mnealtx]

Hence, my response of "sushi dinner"?

 

[BlondieLocs]

Yeah, I thought that was cute.

I'm a bit pedantic. Baited/bated is a little more excusable to me, but the interchangeable use of your/you're, where/wear, whether/weather, to/two/too, their/there/they're... Oh, I could go on and on...

And alot irritates me A LOT.

 

[JFrankParnell]

Well, actually, Taylor wrote that poem in the 30s... and it was in jest. He was, in essence, mocking those who use the idiom incorrectly.

Mock me, will he? harumph.

yes, the whole to,too,two,your,youre,there,their thing really harshes my buzz as well.

 

[mnealtx]

Oh, most definitely!!

 

[mnealtx]

lose / loose....

 

[BlondieLocs]

How about vaper/vapor?

 

[mnealtx]

Good point!

 

[Nuck]

How about vaper/vapor?

Evolved humans use 'vapour'

 

[BlondieLocs]

Evolved humans use 'vapour'

I agree, Nuck. Then again, I AM Canadian. ;-) Just have to dumb it down sometimes, yanno....

 

[Nuck]

I agree, Nuck. Then again, I AM Canadian. ;-) Just have to dumb it down sometimes, yanno....

Ahhh...that explains your solid grasp of language