Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2016 June 6

= June 6 =

dignity of a July morning
Another question about Aldo Leopold's "A Sand County Almanac": I can't figure out why the author uses the phrase "dignity of a July morning" when he says that "Like other great landowners, I have tenants. They are negligent about rents, but very punctilious about tenures. Indeed at every daybreak from April to July they proclaim their boundaries to each other, and so acknowledge, at least by inference, their fiefdom to me. This daily ceremony, contrary to what you might suppose, begins with the utmost decorum. Who originally laid down its protocols I do not know. At 3:30 a.m., with such dignity as I can muster of a July morning, I step from my cabin door, bearing in either hand my emblems of sovereignty, a coffee pot and notebook..." The dignity should be mine, but why dignity of a July morning? Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 221.221.166.249 (talk) 13:16, 6 June 2016 (UTC)
 * From the quote you provide, he doesn't. He says "with such dignity as I can muster of a July morning" which means "with all the dignity he can create on a July morning".--Phil Holmes (talk) 13:30, 6 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Which isn't going to be much at 3:30 a.m. I presume the OP understands that the "tenants" proclaiming their boundaries are the birds, so the writer is getting up very early to listen to the dawn chorus, but in July this is so early that he is still half asleep and therefore cannot exhibit much dignity. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 185.74.232.130 (talk) 15:58, 6 June 2016 (UTC)
 * To put this in context, I see that Aldo Leopold was a member of the United States Forest Service. 151.224.133.26 (talk) 16:26, 6 June 2016 (UTC)


 * The OP is questioning the word "of" in the phrase "as I can muster of a July morning". This is an uncommon usage in current English but was previously more common.  The Oxford English Dictionary gives the 52nd definition of "of" as "At some time during, in the course of, on", with citations such as "The father made his last Will and Testament of a Monday" (1839) and "All the Intellect of the place assembled of an evening" (1831).  CodeTalker (talk) 17:20, 6 June 2016 (UTC)
 * In my parents' and grandparents' generations, the expression "of a morning" was common. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 17:35, 6 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Aldo Leopold was born in 1887, died in 1948. I have no idea when your grandparents lived but I suspect they were younger than Aldo. I agree the language of an eminent professor and naturalist born in the 19th century may be a little confusing to some modern readers. SemanticMantis (talk) 19:52, 6 June 2016 (UTC)
 * "Of a .." hasn't completely died out. I still sometimes hear it from people older than myself ... wait, they're all dead. But here's a Q&A about the expression.  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  22:44, 6 June 2016 (UTC)