Chrysti The Wordsmith: Elbow Room

Greetings and welcome to Christie the wordsmith. When feeling cramped by small spaces or uncomfortably cloistered with too many people we often instinctively seek relief in what we call elbow room. Literally this is ample space in which to freely move the arms and bend the elbows but figuratively elbow room is adequate work or recreation space or a place to dream and think without distraction. This expression was a prominent theme in an early 20th century poem called Daniel Boone by American poet Arthur Gillerman. Good heavens versifier. Daniel Boone strides heroically through Carolina Kentucky and Ohio living the frontiersman life and outrunning civilizations encroachments elbow room cried Daniel Boone Ridge the final line of each verse. Gator man was not the first bard to use this expression to appreciate the rich heritage of this phrase. We need to look back over four centuries and examine the dialogue of Shakespeare's 15 97 play King John in the

final act of the drama the dying king is carried out into the orchard situated on the Castle grounds breathing the fresh air King John sighs Mary. Now my soul hath elbow room. Shakespeare was probably the first to use this expression figuratively giving the human soul a longing to metaphorically stretch its arms and seek a place to expand untrammeled. I'm Christie the wordsmith. Good day for divorce Christie the wordsmith a 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.