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Chris -- 2018-04-11
It seems that “repost” has been an occasional spelling variant (if nothing else) for “riposte” for a good while. From Chapter 122 of Petronius Arbiter’s Satyricon (Gutenberg edition—who knows who translated it or when?) we get:
But hirelings, and vile, to whom my Rome is but a Stepmother! Methinks that no craven this sword arm shall hamper And take not a stroke in repost. On to victory, comrades, While anger seethes hot. With the sword we will seek a decision.
Also
Charles M. Green · 1884 · ?Encyclopedias and dictionaries … take one step backward , showing your foil perpendicular , body upright … do not make many movements with the body , The Repost or Return Thrust .
You can find it other places talking about fencing, too, but pretty often it looks like a pun may be being inflicted on us (in retaliation, no doubt), as when you are advised, in reposting your fencing, to first take out the rotten fenceposts …
It’s about staring your opponent straight in the eye as you drive your foil straight into his gut. It’s about the rapid succession of parry, repost, parry, ...
Fencing – The Perry and Repost – YouTube
“Riposte” is from an earlier French “risposte”, and that from Italian; the “post” is cognate with the “ponse” in “response”. (Cf. Spanish “respuesta” ‘answer (n), response’.) But given the enormous popularity of electronic posting and reposting, it is only to be expected that people nowadays would think, when “riposte” is used, that “re-post” (fairly often meaning “respond directly to the one who posted” rather than “post the same thing a second time”) was meant.
This called for an IMMEDIATE repost.
During the timeout, you could audibly hear Jordan tell her “Stockton is going to come off you”. Kerr’s immediate repost was “If he comes off, I’ll be ready”. Jordan then finished off his Gatorade and the play unfolded exactly as he anticipated it would.
“A ballroom is hardly the place for a discussion on books.” ¶ “How would you know?” Bingley reposted merrily. “You do not dance …
Bretts only repost was that ” Africa is not for sissies mate “.
When I told Bob Kirk I had arrived home 14 hours before our baby’s birth, his immediate repost was, ‘Well – you had time for at least three more meetings’.
we were told the appointment was not until July 23 and I was reminded of today’s date in the month of March. My repost was that I was fully aware of todays date in March
In any case, both riposting and reposting (whether to the first poster or to the rest of us in this post-reading generation) are in some sense responses, so etymologically we come full circle.
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2023-09-01 18:36:26)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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One kind of repost is a contrary statement. Proverbs are proverbially ripostable in this sense. As the proverb has it:
For every axiom there is an equal and opposite re-axiom (—Anon.)
E.g.
It’s the early bird that gets the worm, but it’s the second mouse that gets the cheese.
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2023-08-15 08:55:10)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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