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  • From: Clansgian AT wmconnect.com
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Life in the 1500's
  • Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2007 11:23:13 EDT



> so if you were too poor or too lazy to
> process your flax into thread, weave it into linen, and cut and sew a
> shift,
> then you were, of course, "shiftless".

Maybe. But more likely it derives from the Middle English meaning of the
word 'shift' which meant 'arrange', 'divide up'. etc. So someone who was
'shiftless' was someone who was not in the habit of arranging and managing
their
affairs. The older meaing of the term "make shift" or "makeshift" was to
reconcile, that is, divide things up fairly. </HTML>




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