Hearsing...?

In my recent conversation with Tomas, I equated "the process" as being what we call "rehearsal"... and now I want someone to explain this word 'rehearse'..?

I understand the "re" prefix, as in we repeat things and re-do them and revise them....but what is it we're re-doing? Is the initial walk through of a play called a 'hearse'?

Is that anything to do with 'corpsing'?



....spiralling down my own rabbit hole of this crazy language we try to communicate in...

Craig

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Etymology: Middle English rehersen, from Middle French rehercier, literally, to harrow again, from re- + hercier to harrow, from herce harrow

Harrow was a term used to describe a process of tilling the earth and the equipment that did the work. The French word sounded very similar to Hearse of English.

The Term REHERCE means litterally to re-harrow. Figuratively speaking, it means to cover the same ground.

Jeff "Dug in" Watkins

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Wow, thanks for that, Jeff. Did you just happen to know that, or did you go look it up?

~Julia

Touch of both. I knew the origins of the word were basically French and Farming related. I did have to look up HERCE in an on-line dictionary to confirm my facts though.

Jeff "Double Check" Watkins

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you mentioned 'corpsing' and i couldn't tell if you knew what it meant? but even if you did i was very excited about contributing to the conversation so i want to explain my understanding of 'corpsing' (something I am quite well rehearsed at...) for anyone who was unsure.

well, there was this play where an actor had to lie on the stage as a 'corpse' and she/he started laughing! and thus we have 'corpsing', the actor's tendency to laugh at a totally inappropriate moment (which = me!).

michelle wrote:
>
> you mentioned 'corpsing' and i couldn't tell if you knew what
> it meant? but even if you did i was very excited about
> contributing to the conversation so i want to explain my
> understanding of 'corpsing' (something I am quite well
> rehearsed at...) for anyone who was unsure.
>
> well, there was this play where an actor had to lie on the
> stage as a 'corpse' and she/he started laughing! and thus we
> have 'corpsing', the actor's tendency to laugh at a totally
> inappropriate moment (which = me!).


Hi Michelle

I was just really drawing artificial connections between the word "hearse" (from 're-hearse') and "to corpse"... kinda funny and interesting.

I've also heard that "corpsing" was derived from the fact that when a performer cracks up and laughs inappropriately, it "kills" the scene ...but the dead body laughing is the obvious explanation and probably makes the most sense.

Cheers,
Craig