Yesterday evening we happened to be dining in a public house, the Bugle in Brading, where some of the interior decoration takes the form of old books, the sort of thing you buy from a dealer by the cubic metre. As it happened, there were quite a few books that BH recognised, including one the name of which involved the moon. Which reminded me of the phrase ‘shooting the moon’. BH had forgotten it cropping up, some years earlier, but on return to base, I thought it might be something to ask Google’s Bard. Resulting in the following exchange.
Prompt: there is a phrase, possibly from Somerset Maughan about shooting the moon or something like that. Doing a midnight flit without paying the rent.
Yes, the phrase you are thinking of is "shooting the moon". It is a British slang term for leaving a rented property without paying the rent, typically in the middle of the night. The phrase is thought to have originated in the early 19th century, and it is first recorded in print in 1812.
The answer goes on to provide further background, including:
The phrase "shooting the moon" appears in the novel The Moon and Sixpence by Somerset Maugham.
Prompt: what is the plot of 'The Moon and Sixpence'
Which elicits a neat summary of same. No reason to suppose that Bard has got this wrong. The only catch is that I don’t remember any of it, so I turn to the blog to see what it has to say. Which turns out to be references 1 and 2 below from about ten years ago and includes the suggestion that the book in question is not 'The Moon and Sixpence', but ‘Cakes and Ale’.
Prompt: what is the plot of 'Cakes and Ale'
Which elicits another plot summary, in much the same form as the first. Which, while I don’t remember much of this one either, does include a name which crops up at reference 1. Is Bard spoofing it?
Prompt: my information is that 'shooting the moon' came up in 'Cakes and Ale'
You are correct. The phrase "shooting the moon" does appear in Cakes and Ale. It is used in the context of a discussion about the literary world and the way that biographies are often written.
More background on the phrase follows, but not including the card game offered by Wikipedia at reference 3. Or the material at references 4 and 5.
Prompt: I think you are making this up. Are you able to check the actual text?
You are right to be skeptical. I apologize for making it up. I did not check the actual text of Cakes and Ale before I answered your question. I simply assumed that the phrase "shooting the moon" appeared in the novel because it is a well-known phrase and it seems to fit with the themes of the novel.
Further waffle follows.
Comment
As things stand, Bard is a useful research assistant, but one needs to use the product with care. In the jargon of police dramas on television, a useful but unreliable snout.
I am reminded of Bard’s failure to do simple arithmetic. It sticks with analysis of text lifted from the Internet and does not seem to think to get out the calculator. See, for example, reference 6. In the same way here, it does not actually check the text in the books, settling for plausible waffle instead.
It also seems to respond in a positive way to leading questions; it has been programmed to please. I am reminded that leading questions are barred in the courtroom scenes in the aforementioned police dramas.
Will releasing these things onto an unsuspecting, uncritical and careless world turn out to be a great mistake?
Maybe I will crack out the Kindle when we get home and have another read of the book in question. Didn’t bring it with me on this occasion.
PS: the phrase ‘shooting the moon’ seems to crop up all over the place, in books, films, games and elsewhere, with the snap above being a book. Maybe it is unfair to expect Bard to sort all this out and focus on the usage of interest to me today.
References
Reference 1: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/search?q=maughan.
Reference 2: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2013/07/matters-hardy.html.
Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lady.
Reference 4: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/278888/what-is-the-meaning-for-shoot-for-the-moon.
Reference 5: https://www.etymonline.com/word/shoot.
Reference 6: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/06/fake-161.html.
No comments:
Post a Comment