Chrysti The Wordsmith: Lick Into Shape

Greetings This is Christie the wordsmith. When we promise to lick something or someone into shape we mean we're going to make that thing work properly or that person behave correctly or look presentable. So often put to use in everyday speech. This little phrase has one of the strangest biographies of all the cliches in the English language. Behind this expression is an ancient European notion that bear cubs were born formless and eyeless the newborns were thought to remain that way until the mother bear literally licked them into shape with her tongue. Playwrights and poets kept the notion alive throughout the centuries beginning with a writing from 14:13 called the pilgrimage of the soul translated from Old English it reads bears are brought forth all fall and transformed. And after that by the licking of the Father and the mother they are brought into their appropriate shape. In sixteen sixty three English poet Samuel Butler wrote a bears a savage beast of almost ugly and unnatural wealth without form and tell the dame has licked it into shape and

frame Shakespeare and Alexander Pope also made references to this ancient notion the modern biology has made a fiction of this belief. The cliche lick into shape inspired by the formless bear cub literally licked into shape by its mother remains a viable 21st century expression. I'm Christie the wordsmith. This series is produced in the studios of KGO AM on the campus of Montana State University in Bozeman. CHRISTIE The wordsmith is sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Zoot enterprises a high tech firm in Bozeman Montana offering challenging careers and innovative solutions for the financial services industry. Pseud web dot com.