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> It would be as though people started using "the die is cast" to mean dying, simply because the word "die" is in there, without any knowledge of Caesar. Is the

> It would be as though people started using "the die is cast" to mean dying, simply because the word "die" is in there, without any knowledge of Caesar. Is there any idiom -- not a single word, but a full phrase -- whose meaning has changed over the years, simply by virtue of its being misunderstood by the linguistically inept or the historically ignorant? Ironically enough, Caesar’s quote of Menander likely meant “this crossing of the Rubicon is a roll of the dice”, or “let the dice be thrown”, not that his crossing is setting in motion the irrevocable. So there’s that.

waterhouse 6y ago
George Orwell wrote in 1946: "Some metaphors now current have been twisted out of their original meaning without those who use them even being aware of the fact. For example, toe the line is sometimes written as tow the line. Another example is the hammer and the anvil, now always used with the implication that the anvil gets the worst of it. In real life it is always the anvil that breaks the hammer, never the other way about: a writer who stopped to think what he was saying would avoid perverting the original phrase." http://people.ucalgary.ca/~rseiler/orwell46.htm http://people.ucalgary.ca/~rseiler/orwell46.htm
nvader 6y ago
Thanks in some part to Asterix comics portrayal of Caesar as a gambler, I always took this phrase to mean just that. There is a sense of irrevocable commitment that it implies, because once the dice have left the shooter's hand, no adjustment to bets are allowed. Your fate is sealed. Only upon puzzling upon your comment did I realize that there was another way to creatively misconstrue those words in english, reading "die" as mould, and "cast" as to form on such a device. Therefore, "the die is cast" = "the mould has been poured". Once it hardens, again, your fate is sealed.
meowface 6y ago
Isn't that kind of the same thing? By crossing the river, he's now - irrevocably - throwing the "civil war" die. After that point, one of two things will happen: he either wins the civil war, or loses and dies/is exiled. Basically, "the gamble is in motion", starting then. There's no turning back. I may be misunderstanding your point, though.

waterhouse 6y ago

George Orwell wrote in 1946: "Some metaphors now current have been twisted out of their original meaning without those who use them even being aware of the fact. For example, toe the line is sometimes written as tow the line. Another example is the hammer and the anvil, now always used with the implication that the anvil gets the worst of it. In real life it is always the anvil that breaks the hammer, never the other way about: a writer who stopped to think what he was saying would avoid perverting the original phrase." http://people.ucalgary.ca/~rseiler/orwell46.htm http://people.ucalgary.ca/~rseiler/orwell46.htm

nvader 6y ago

Thanks in some part to Asterix comics portrayal of Caesar as a gambler, I always took this phrase to mean just that. There is a sense of irrevocable commitment that it implies, because once the dice have left the shooter's hand, no adjustment to bets are allowed. Your fate is sealed. Only upon puzzling upon your comment did I realize that there was another way to creatively misconstrue those words in english, reading "die" as mould, and "cast" as to form on such a device. Therefore, "the die is cast" = "the mould has been poured". Once it hardens, again, your fate is sealed.

meowface 6y ago

Isn't that kind of the same thing? By crossing the river, he's now - irrevocably - throwing the "civil war" die. After that point, one of two things will happen: he either wins the civil war, or loses and dies/is exiled. Basically, "the gamble is in motion", starting then. There's no turning back. I may be misunderstanding your point, though.