Chrysti The Wordsmith: By Hook or By Crook

Greetings and welcome to Christie the wordsmith from famine Bozeman Montana. When we say that we will do or find or accomplish something by hook or by crook we mean that we're determined to achieve the goal by any means possible. Fair or foul. Lawful or nefarious. The theologian John Wycliffe was probably the first to print this expression in 13 A.D. The story behind the coinage of the phrase by hook or by crook has since been lost. But etymologists have offered a pair of possibilities some give it a nautical source attaching it to a bay near Waterford Ireland where hook is the name of a headland on one side of the bay and Crook is the name of another. A captain determined to safely navigate the bay during stormy weather could use one or the other as a guide. Entering by hook or by crook. A more sensible suggestion traces the phrase to medieval England where forests and timber land were royal property while commoners were forbidden to fall the timber for buildings

or firewood they were allowed to harvest any of the dead branches they could pull down with a shepherd's crook and cut with a type of sock called a bill hook. So the poor gathered essential heating and cooking would the only way possible by hook or by crook. I'm Christi the wordsmith from K.J. Pham at 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. Zoot web dot com.