so, darling ones, i once again turn to your infinite wisdom and superior knowledge. if i want to say, “speak now or forever hold your. . . ” is it peace or piece? i’ve never figured it out and why is it one and not the other. just what in the hell does that stupid phrase mean anyway?
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piece
…out
When I think “piece”, I always think “piece of ass”.
If my memory serves me correctly, I believe it’s peace, as in “If’n ya’ll don’t agree with this marriage, call out now, or ya’ll gots ta keep yer mouths shut from here on out, okay?”
Well, that’s how it’s literally translated in Kentucky. But seriously, it’s forever hold your peace. Think of someone telling you to “hold your pose” when taking a picture. The theory is that if you make dischord at that moment, the actual marriage hasn’t been “sealed”, and so no harm will come if you disrupt it now. It’s a “one last chance” sort of thing. Afterwards, it suggests that you should never, ever, ever say anything to disrupt that union. Even if one party of the couple is cheating with a group of Hatian, bi-sexual, heroin addicts and is plotting to have the other killed, you should just dummy up and smile. But it also means your “friends” shouldn’t tell you to get a divorce because your man eats Doritos “OUT OF THE BAG!!!”
It’s a good concept, just not practical sometimes.
“hold your peace”
i don’t have any evidence to back that up, but i feel quite confident it’s peace.
I did a movie where it was, “Speak now, or forever hold your piece,” but I think we were talking about something else entirely.
I was playing a judge. You should’ve seen the size of my, ah, “gavel”
It’s “peace.” As in “keep the peace” or “peace out.”
According to this page:
“After the Council of Trent, Catholics and Protestants alike required marriage banns or marriage proclamations. Before the wedding ceremony could take place, the proposed marriage would be announced on three successive Sundays in Church and nay-sayers would be given a chance to voice their objection, the origin of the ?speak now or forever hold your peace? ritual. Reasons for the marriage proclamation were to make unsuspecting parents or guardians aware of a clandestine marriage and to insure the statutory legality of said union, i.e., were the bride and groom old enough or was the couple too closely related.”
Well played, Mr. Heathen. Well played indeed…
In addition, there’s this bit:
“‘Hold your peace/Say your piece’
Some folks imagine that since these expressions are opposites, the last word in each should be the same; but in fact they are unrelated expressions. The first means “maintain your silence,” and the other means literally “speak aloud a piece of writing” but is used to express the idea of making a statement. ”
from http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/hold.html
My wife’s an amateur etymologist. She has all these resources literally at her fingertips. Whenever I wonder, “Where did THAT saying come from?” she usually has an answer within minutes.
It’s kinda cool.
peas