It's February 5th and I'm going to try something new. Although it is considered anathema to rhyme the same word twice in a limerick -- I'm going to do it five times! I just find it interesting that the word can have so many different usages.
An alto could not sing a fifth,
On trial, she pleaded the fifth.*
Double-tithed, that's a fifth
In a race came in fifth
And never drank less than a fifth.**
* Non-Americans -- the 5th amendment to the US constitution allows one not to answer a question in a court of law if it might incriminate him.
** Before switching to the metric system, liquor was sold using the English system -- ounces, pints, etc. A very popular quantity was 4/5 of a quart, commonly referred to as "a fifth" since it was 1/5 of a gallon.
p.s. Besides its being a pun, does anyone know to what my title refers?
In re: Does this make me a 5th Columnist? No, but according to recent writings of Oxford don and neuroscientist turned geopolitical philosopher Nayef Al-Rodhan, your avocation as a blogger may qualify you as a member of the Fifth Estate, the world-wide communication link among everyone which supersedes the influence of the Press (the Fourth Estate).
ReplyDeleteA fifth columnist is an insurgent among a native population who aids an invading army or subversive organization. ("I Led Three Lives" before I understood that concept.)