Wapsi Square Forum

"He who frasts last, snaiths least".

I know that the snaith is the handle of a Scythe.

But what is 'Frast'?

TazManiac wrote:"He who frasts last, snaiths least".

I know that the snaith is the handle of a Scythe.

But what is 'Frast'?

Feminine of "Frost"?

Well thanks for at least replying. I'm not so sure it's 'frost' related, but my buddy recalls the phrase well- despite that, we're going off of a phonetic spelling at this point...

Just from context, I bet it is similar to "cut" or "harvest".

To snaith the least seems like it would be similar to be the one who does the least work in the field with the scythe.

Harvests, expecially large-scale harvests with scythes, were probably done in teams. Perhaps on rotation. So one team goes out and foes a quarter of a field, the next team does the next quarter... Etc.

Now... When one is working a big field with a scythe, it's kinda hard to judge exactly where you are in the field. So just to make sure they don't get in trouble, a wise farmhand would work juuuust a little bit extra to make sure he didn't get nailed...or whipped, more likely... for laziness.

However, the last person or team, they have a highly defined start and end point. They start where the others left off, and they end where the field ends.

So, combining all of these educated guesses together, the last farmhand out in the field would logically have the least amount of work to do, as everyone before hand had to do just a tiny bit extra to make sure they didn't get in trouble.

The work is the act of the harvest. So he who works, or harvests, or frasts last, snaiths least. Which basically means he who gets the end of the job probably gets the least amount of work to do.

Just guessing, of course.

Thats a good guess, I'm still working on it.

btw- This is based on the Magazines, not the later Movie Franchise...

I'm unfamiliar with any aspect of the franchise beyond its name and the fact that it involves satire, farce, parody, and absurdity. Which makes me wonder if the word isn't just something that they made up.

If it's being spelled phonetically, though, then it could relate to the Greek word meaning something along the lines of "to phrase something".

Could be that some half-frast snath waxers think they can take us for a ride, too.

Maybe it has something to do with a Plumbus?

Atomic wrote:Maybe it has something to do with a Plumbus?

Argh!, you made me click on a link... I'll have to wait until I get better (non-quota-ed bandwidth to be able to view the whole thing...), but No. I don't think so...

Now go drink some Egg Nog & make Merry, ya knucklehead...

TazManiac wrote:Now go drink some Egg Nog & make Merry, ya knucklehead...

You might not want to do that if your spouse's name is Joy.

Warrl wrote:

TazManiac wrote:Now go drink some Egg Nog & make Merry, ya knucklehead...

You might not want to do that if your spouse's name is Joy.

Well, maybe Mary and Joy can come to some sort of understanding, you know; it turns out if the womensfolks work out the arrangements afore-hand, it usually has a better chance of succeeding...

The part that is both tricky and un-explainable beforehand is when you are Assert Your Manliness, lest they wonder why you didn't do so, esp when they were expecting you to do so, and why didn't you realize _that_ was the perfect moment to do so, and therefore... <sigh>

It's so exhausting some times....