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[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> 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>