[OT] Word Play

Michael Champion wrote:

> To be fair, the W3C started out as a Clown Collective that swept up 
> after the mess that the various browsers were creating and attempted to 
> herd the elephants in the same direction.  At some point they apparently 
> decided that this task was too dirty and smelly and left it to WS-I, 
> WHAT, et al., and aspired to the position of ringmaster (or whoever it 
> is that traditionally leads the circus parade).

In North America, the leader of a parade is the "marshall."  Ironically, 
given the stretched-out metaphor of sweeping up manure, the word "marshall" 
comes from Old English "mearescealc", or "horse lackey" (or more 
colloquially, "stable hand"), so we're right back where we started.


All the best,


David