Yes, I’m copy-editing on Christmas Eve. (Don’t have much choice.) But at least I’m getting some entertainment out of it: discovering, for example, that I described someone’s manner as “both sheepless and helpless.”
Sheepish. Not sheepless. Though it’s true he has no sheep, it’s not really relevant to this scene.
And for some reason, the first thing that popped into my head was “Sheepless in Seattle.”
I don’t know, I just live in this brain.
Just remember, caffeine is no substitute for sheep.
So the sheepless character in question won’t be able to assert the [alleged] ancient privilege of a Freeman of the City of London…
Freedom of the City
Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year
Heh — I hadn’t even made that connection. 🙂
Hopefully, this isn’t a werewolf character, or being either sheepless or helpless might be a serious problem…
Sure–sheepless is the opposite of sheepish; synonyms are disdaunt, cockcertain, and ept.
A sheep was a critical accessory to the Victorian man’s ensemble. Why to be in London and sheepless was a social faux pas of the highest order! One could ruin business and marriage prospects were one’s lack of sheep discovered. A sheep tagging along at a man’s heels told everyone “I’m important! I’m a man of wealth, prosperity, and deviant sexual tendencies that would shock proper society and make me the subject of Regency romances in another century.”
Hee!
Now I’m thinking of the bit with the pig in Casanova.
