This one got caught on the REPLY-TO When in doubt. PANIC!! -----Original Message----- From: "Chris Mason" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2006 21:03:42 To:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Another BIG Mainframe Bites the Dust
Ted For those reading this who do not have English as a mother tongue and are thus unfamiliar with English culture, I'll take this opportunity to explain "Hobson's choice". It helps that (a) I used to teach to an audience of European students so I have a sensitivity to idiom and the like - and - (b) I used to sing on the site where Hobson kept his horses and lived on the site of the hostelry next door. In the early seventeenth century, Thomas Hobson rented out horses from some stables near to King's College in Cambridge next door to the institution known then as Katharine Hall and the George[1] Inn. The clientele for his horses, generally university folk, used to select some horses more than others and so Hobson's "stock" wasn't being used to the best advantage. To ensure that his horses were not overused or underused, Hobson arranged that the freshest horse was always nearest the stable door and insisted that this horse was "chosen". Hence we have the expression "Hobson's choice". Today I expect Hobson would be described as a "work load manager". Apparently the Katharine Hall, renamed St Catharine's, college chapel was constructed on the site of Hobson's stables as part of the mid to late seventeen century rebuilding of the institution. Chris Mason [1] Somehow the building on this site became known as "The Bull". One reference mentions that Hobson also ran a coach service from Cambridge to London and that his London terminus inn was called "The Bull". "Bull" was the name of the terrible building housing the students' rooms in my time, now happily replaced by a modern building - although, being "listed", the facade has been preserved. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ted MacNEIL" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Newsgroups: bit.listserv.ibm-main To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, 10 October, 2006 11:58 PM Subject: Re: Another BIG Mainframe Bites the Dust > ... > Hobson's choice. > ... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
