This word is taken from the white slave owner cracking his whip at his slaves.
An old story relates that a medieval town under siege hung a goose from a tower, symbolizing the stupidity of the attackers.
The attackers were so enraged that they burned the town, thereby literally cooking the townspeople’s goose.
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Baptism by Fire
During the Franco-German war of 1870, Prince Louis Napoleon was first exposed, by direction of his father, Napoleon III, to the fire of the enemy at Saarbruck, the event was called a ‘baptism of fire’
Later, people changed it to Baptism by fire.
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Come What May
Shakespeare (1606) – Macbeth
‘Come what come may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day.’
Auguring is what augurs did in ancient Rome. These were official diviners whose function it was, not to foretell the future, but to divine whether the gods approved of a proposed undertaking, such as a military move. They did so by various means, among them observing the behavior of birds and examining the intestines of sacrificed animals. Nowadays, of course, when we use the extended senses of ‘indicate’ and ‘promise,’ auguring is done from other signs. The verb is often used with an adverb, such as ‘well,’ as in ‘high investment returns augured well for Paul’s early retirement.’ ‘Augur’ comes from Latin and is related to the Latin verb ‘augere,’ meaning ‘to increase.’ The exact nature of the connection between ‘augur’ and ‘augere’ is lost in obscurity, however.