More Podcasts with Laila

And speaking of audio literary offerings, it looks like Megan has entered the fray[1], preserving Laila‘s appearance at her bookstore in podcast form.

[1] In one of the nuttiest quid pro quos ever devised, I pledged recently to someone that I will no longer be using the phrase “weigh in” on this blog. All future references to “weigh in” will be replaced with “enter the fray,” since using a war metaphor in an ironic and peaceful context is not as egregious as a junior high school wrestling metaphor.

6 Comments

  1. What do you get in return?!?

    For fun (from the OED, for “weigh in”):

    9. a. intr. in Horse-racing. Of a jockey: To take his place in the scales, in order that his declared weight may be verified by the clerk. to weigh out (in), to do this before and after a race. (Cf. 7d.) Similarly in Boxing, to weigh in: said of a boxer (turning the scales at a particular weight) before a fight. Hence in general colloq. use.

    1805 Weatherby’s Racing Cal. XXXII. p. xxxviii, That every person who shall ride at Newmarket for Plate, Sweep~stakes, or Match, shall be obliged to weigh when he comes in. 1858 Rules of Racing §37 Jockies are required to weigh at the usual place of weighing, before the race,..and every rider is, immediately after the race, to ride his horse to the usual place of weighing,..and to weigh to the satisfaction of the person appointed for that purpose. 1868 G. J. WHYTE-MELVILLE White Rose I. xiv. 174 Their riders are drinking sherry..preparatory to ‘weighing in’. Ibid. 182 Mr. Snipe, returning to weigh after an easy victory. 1877 Rules of Racing §31 Weighing out and starting. Ibid. §34 Weighing in. 1879 J. RICE Hist. Turf I. 298 The rider of Musjid..is said to have weighed in and weighed out with a whip weighing 7 or 9 lbs. and to have exchanged it for a lighter whip before and after the race. 1909 ‘O. HENRY’ Roads of Destiny xviii. 307 He was six feet four and weighed in at 135. 1920 MASEFIELD Right Royal 33 When the clock struck three and the men weighed out. Ibid. 119 Then the riders weighed-in, and the meeting was over. 1931 Daily Express 13 Oct. 1/7 Both boxers weighed in this afternoon. 1958 S. WILCOX 3 Days Running vii. 79 When at last I was able..to ‘weigh-in’ ..I weighed five pounds more than at the beginning of the day. 1966 Aviation Week & Space Technol. 5 Dec. 6/1 The complete inertial package weighs in at only 14 pounds. 1979 SLR Camera Mar. 35/1 The compact ‘Zuiko’ 1000mm measures just 26 inches and weighs in at around eight and a half pounds.
    b. Hence to weigh in with: to introduce or produce (something that is additional or extra). colloq.

    1885 Daily News Nov. (Passing English, 1909) The journal ‘weighs in’ with a prismatic Christmas number. 1901 Macm. Mag. Apr. 464/1 Carver..used to sit up and snort a bit when we weighed in with hock and seltzer instead of tea. 1921 D. G. MACKAIL Romance to Rescue i. 9 A Rhodes scholar weighed in with praise of Greenwich Village.
    c. fig. to weigh in: to bring one’s weight or influence to bear; to enter a forceful contribution to a discussion, etc. colloq.

    1909 G. B. SHAW Let. 31 July (1972) II. 854, I want you to ask the Chief Rabbi to weigh in. 1919 BEERBOHM Seven Men 147 A few weeks later the Anglo-Indians weigh in. In due course we have the help of our Australian cousins. 1938 E. BOWEN Death of Heart III. iii. 378 The telephone crisis..had been the moment for Lilian to weigh in. 1956 A. L. ROWSE Early Churchills 221 The Princess Anne, in her constant rôle of fairy godmother to the Marlboroughs, weighed in; nor could it have been done with more tact and good feeling. 1976 Milton Keynes Express 4 June 38/4 Sim weighed in with 4-27 off eight overs.
    d. To launch into and attack (a person, etc.). Also fig. colloq.

    1941 BAKER Dict. Austral. Slang 81 Weigh into someone, to attack, wade into a person in a fight. 1976 F. WARNER Killing Time I. i. 8, I survived the war,..and then, if I was a minute after 9.30 in the evening, my Mother would weigh into me.

  2. I meant the longwinded “weigh in” vs “into the fray”. Interesting stuff. Do you see similarities between your style and Eggers?

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