Dr. Guillotine

[00:00] Next up, we have the under Googles.
[00:10] Oh, we do under Googles.
[00:12] That was the play of super excited told us we had to.
[00:18] So we signed up for it.
[00:20] In the end, it's going to be better and more true than Google can give you.
[00:26] Coalson, what do you got for us this week?
[00:29] So this was a suggestion from a listener.
[00:33] And I thought we're not going to use this because it's too obvious.
[00:37] But then I started thinking about it, and it's actually maybe a little tricky.
[00:42] The origin of the phrase in one fell swoop.
[00:46] Falconry.
[00:49] I liked it.
[00:51] I liked it.
[00:52] I liked it.
[00:53] But my issue is fell.
[00:56] Why is the word fell in there like you're felling a tree?
[01:00] Like that doesn't see it.
[01:02] It's not like in one big swoop.
[01:05] Is there?
[01:06] So the thing that comes to my mind is an execution with the head hit the floor.
[01:15] Yeah, I think fell actually had a negative connotation back in the day.
[01:19] So one like really terrible fell would be like awful, scary.
[01:26] Oh, I see. Interesting.
[01:30] So it was it was the audience that a beheading would be using this phrase.
[01:39] Does that mean that sometimes it took two fell swoops or two swoops?
[01:47] That's why they came up with the guillotine.
[01:49] It was supposed to be humane.
[01:52] Right.
[01:53] That's why he made up the guillotine.
[01:55] Because you're just hacking away at that head.
[01:57] Dr. Guillotine.
[01:58] Yeah.
[01:59] Yeah.
[02:02] So the plan is you just got to knock it out with one.
[02:05] So essentially like you're felling a tree, but you're with your axe,
[02:08] but you're knocking off a head in one fell swoop.
[02:12] Well, you didn't know this is going to be so dark when you start.
[02:14] I assumed it would be it's I assumed it would be falconry,
[02:18] which is kind of why I brought it up to.
[02:21] I assume that it's Shakespeare,
[02:24] although last time I thought it was Shakespeare in a nutshell
[02:28] was actually Pliny the Elder.
[02:30] So what do I know?
[02:32] Was it the elder or the younger?
[02:34] Maybe it was the younger.
[02:35] It was one of the finest.
[02:36] I think it was the younger.
[02:37] Okay.
[02:38] Whichever one was dealing with hanging out with Homer.
[02:41] Was that the younger?
[02:42] I think it was the younger.
[02:44] So Guillotine invented the guillotine to be more humane.
[02:49] Is this where Kevorkian went wrong?
[02:53] Instead of calling it physician assisted suicide,
[02:55] if he had marketed it as the Kevorkian machine, maybe he could.
[03:02] Yeah.
[03:03] Because I kind of feel like he just did stuff on his own.
[03:06] He didn't have like a marketing department.
[03:08] You know, he didn't do research like market research.
[03:12] Dr. K super serum.
[03:14] Yeah.
[03:15] Yeah.
[03:16] This is so dark.
[03:20] Well, depending on what the record in the series is come Thursday,
[03:22] this might fit just right in.
[03:23] Yeah, it might be appropriate.
[03:26] So what are we going with?
[03:27] We're going with guillotine.
[03:29] I'm going with, it's got to be Pliny the Younger talking about guillotines.
[03:37] In an extremely prescient moment.
[03:40] Very different eras.
[03:42] When did beheading as a capital punishment come about?
[03:48] Like, is that a middle ages thing or were people back in ancient times getting beheaded?
[03:53] They were definitely getting like hands chopped off and stuff like that.
[03:57] Right.
[03:58] Like back in the day for like thievery and whatnot.
[04:01] I feel like once you came up with the axe, you were pretty much just beheading was an option.
[04:06] Or the sword.
[04:08] So you go like the Romans would.
[04:11] They wouldn't behead them, right?
[04:14] Yeah.
[04:15] Maybe it's more cruel and unusual.
[04:17] Does that come up in the Bible?
[04:19] Does beheading come up in the Bible?
[04:20] I don't think so.
[04:21] I don't remember a lot of beheadings in the Bible.
[04:25] It's been a while since I've read the whole thing.
[04:28] That's interesting.
[04:29] There's definitely somebody out there that did their PhD thesis on the origins of beheading.
[04:35] We should get that person on the pot.
[04:36] We should.
[04:37] I'm going to get to the library.
[04:38] That dude does not have a lot of work.
[04:40] We need to throw him a gun.
[04:42] Exactly.
[04:43] Is there beheading in the Quran maybe?
[04:46] I have not read the Quran.
[04:48] Neither one.
[04:49] This reminds me.
[04:50] I got a quick story.
[04:52] I was in college.
[04:53] This can't not be going to a good place.
[04:58] So I was in an English lit class, and we were reading Flannery O'Connor's short story
[05:06] called The Lame Shall Enter First.
[05:09] And I had to do the report on it, and so I stood up in class and I said, you know,
[05:14] clearly this is referring to the biblical passage, The Lame Shall Enter First.
[05:19] And one of the guys, you know, kind of was like, you know, I appreciate your report,
[05:23] but, like, I'm a religious major, and I'm pretty sure that's not in the Bible.
[05:28] And I was like, oh, you know, both my parents are ministers.
[05:30] I grew up reading the Bible, and I'm pretty sure that is an actual passage from the Bible
[05:35] just to let you know.
[05:37] And so I then went home and emailed my father, and I was like,
[05:41] I need your backup here.
[05:43] The Lame Shall Enter First is definitely a line there.
[05:46] And his email response to me was,
[05:51] The last shall enter first.
[05:53] The meek shall inherit the earth.
[05:55] But the lame are on their own.
[05:57] Wow.
[06:03] Yeah.
[06:04] Nice work.
[06:07] So update on beheadings.
[06:10] It does go back to ancient times,
[06:14] and the Roman Empire used beheading for its own citizens, but crucified forms.
[06:21] Ah, fair enough.
[06:23] Okay.
[06:24] Has anybody Googled fell swoop yet?
[06:26] No, but I want to make, I want to, I think it's falconry.
[06:29] I'm not going to say it's beheadings.
[06:31] I think it's falconry.
[06:33] You just want to be an optimist.
[06:35] Yeah, it's got to be, right?
[06:36] That's what our show is about.
[06:37] That's what Undo Googles are about, is falconry.
[06:42] It's about falconry.
[06:45] Okay.
[06:46] So I'm finding a straight dope, wrote an article about this.
[06:51] It sounds like fell in old English means awful, terrible, or horrible.
[06:56] It's also the same root word.
[06:58] Nailed it.
[06:59] Root word is fellen.
[07:01] And swoop is just a quick motion.
[07:03] So it's a terrible motion.
[07:06] Yeah.
[07:07] And it was in Shakespeare and Macbeth.
[07:10] Yes, it sure was always Shakespeare.
[07:13] So it's a one fell swoop just kind of means all at once.
[07:16] It's like a terrible thing that happens all at once.
[07:19] Graham Donald in the dictionary of modern phrase says it, quote,
[07:22] properly applies to the sudden savage attack of a bird of prey.
[07:26] Whoa.
[07:27] Whoa.
[07:28] Into its stoop.
[07:29] Falcon.
[07:30] Falconry.
[07:31] But apparently not even Shakespeare used it that way.
[07:34] But as we all know, it all comes back to falconry.
[07:38] So, uh, McDuff says on hearing that his family and servants have all been
[07:43] killed.
[07:44] Uh, did you say all oh hell kite all what all my pretty chickens and their
[07:49] damn at one fell swoop are there no idea what that means?
[07:53] Yeah.
[07:54] Uh, basically, yeah, they all got murdered real fast and kite refers to
[07:58] probably a red kite, which is a hunting bird.
[08:02] Yeah.
[08:03] That's another end of Goog levels.
[08:05] Yeah.
[08:06] I know what we're doing.
[08:07] Nice job.
[08:08] It's not about guillotines, but, you know, I feel better.
[08:12] I feel better about humanity.
[08:16] It wasn't about beheading.