I’m feeling word-ish today. Which means that you get some (what I think is interesting) background on a phrase we hear often, “by and large.”
Would you believe that the common expression “by and large” was originally a nautical term? “Large” meant that the wind was to a ship’s back as it sailed (a good thing), and “full and by” meant that the ship was headed into the wind (not good). “By and large” indicated that the ship was sailing through changing, unpredictable winds that hit them from varying directions. Somehow that came to mean what it does today in common usage–“for the most part” or “all things considered.”
So, dear readers, I wish you a day that is, by and large, not by and large.
