The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 27.290 Tuesday, 30 August 2016
[1] From: Liza Blake <
Date: August 29, 2016 at 10:26:54 AM EDT
Subj: Re: SHAKSPER: Conference: Go to
[2] From: Liza Blake <
Date: August 29, 2016 at 10:26:54 AM EDT
Subj: Re: SHAKSPER: Conference: Go to
[3] From: Liza Blake <
Date: August 29, 2016 at 10:26:54 AM EDT
Subj: Re: SHAKSPER: Conference: Go to
[4] From: Liza Blake <
Date: August 29, 2016 at 10:26:54 AM EDT
Subj: Re: SHAKSPER: Conference: Go to
[1]----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Liza Blake <
Date: August 29, 2016 at 10:26:54 AM EDT
Subject: Re: SHAKSPER: Conference: Go to
For John Cox: “to go to” is in the OED, s.v. “go, v.”:
1. intr.
a. To go about one's work; to set to work, begin working. Chiefly imper., as an exhortation to do this.
b. imper. Expressing (playful) impatience or dismissiveness, or (mock) disbelief, derision, etc.: ‘get away’. Now arch. and rare.
Phrases are typically listed at the end of entries of individual words.
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From: Peter Holland <
Date: August 29, 2016 at 10:50:47 AM EDT
Subject: Re: SHAKSPER: Conference: Go to
John Cox asks why ‘go to’ is not in the OED. But it is. Late in the colossal entry on go, v. there is a long series of forms of go with a following preposition (go round, go through, etc etc) and, among them, you will find ‘to go to’, which includes, as sense 1.b (I give only the start of its list of quotations):
b. imper. Expressing (playful) impatience or dismissiveness, or (mock) disbelief, derision, etc.: ‘get away’. Now arch. and rare.
?1531 tr. Erasmus Treat. Perswadynge Man Patientlye to Suffre sig. C.iij, Nowe go to, tell me [L. sed age], what losse is it, that ye susteine by my deth?
1590 R. Harvey Plaine Percevall Ded. sig. A3, Go to Martin, go to: I know a man is a man, though he haue but a hose on his head.
1602 J. Marston Hist. Antonio & Mellida iii. sig. E, Goe to, goe to; thou liest Philosophy.
1740 S. Richardson Pamela I. xxxi. 190 Go to, go to, naughty mistrustful Mrs. Pamela.
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From: John W Kennedy <
Date: August 29, 2016 at 12:21:14 PM EDT
Subject: Re: SHAKSPER: Conference: Go to
From: John Cox <
“Go to” as a separate phrase (always imperative) is common in early modern English, and it can mean a lot of things. Defining it in a particular context is not always easy.
It is not included in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Does anyone know why?
It is in the 3rd Edition.
John W Kennedy
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From: John Cox <
Date: August 29, 2016 at 2:02:54 PM EDT
Subject: Go to
Thanks to Peter Holland for the OED reference for “to go to.” This is where the OED lists instances of “Go to” as a separate phrase.
Still, I think the editors did readers a disservice by not listing “Go to” as a distinct phrase, given its common appearance in early modern English. (Offlist, someone sent me an instance in Conrad as well.) It does not appear in the dropdown list of instances under the update notice (June, 2015), and I doubt if most readers would recognize “to go to” as the appropriate heading, even if it’s technically correct.
“Go” is an extraordinarily long and complex entry in the OED, and perhaps the editors should be forgiven for a possible oversight, but it does seem to me to be oversight, nonetheless.