Talk:what hath God wrought

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Latest comment: 10 years ago by Msh210 in topic what hath God wrought
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RFD

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The following information passed a request for deletion.

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.


what hath God wrought

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If indeed this is idiomatic, I really doubt that the current definition is adequate. As a rhetorical question, it doesn't particularly stand out, but I suppose its use is somewhat non-literal. —Μετάknowledgediscuss/deeds 04:03, 26 November 2013 (UTC)Reply

This is best known as the first message Samuel Morse chose to send over a long-distance telegraph line (see Baltimore-Washington telegraph line), with its biblical source being much less known. I wonder if there's some kind of sense that comes from this. Chuck Entz (talk) 04:16, 26 November 2013 (UTC)Reply
Keep. It is still productive, which is unusual given its archaic wording ("hath" and "wrought"). bd2412 T 04:23, 26 November 2013 (UTC)Reply
I have added three citations to the entry showing idiomatic use (particularly the third one, which is a 2011 publication, showing currency of the archaic phrase); note that none of these citations is from the two most obvious sources, those being the biblical passage and the first telegraph message. In other words, this is a set phrase that is used entirely outside of its historical context to convey meaning not immediately apparent from the phrase itself. As noted below, I have also adjusted the definition, per Μετάknowledge. bd2412 T 16:04, 26 November 2013 (UTC)Reply
Keep as redefined and cited. DCDuring TALK 16:53, 26 November 2013 (UTC)Reply
Looks like a keeper as currently defined. Mglovesfun (talk) 17:06, 26 November 2013 (UTC)Reply
Keep as redefined and cited. --Dmol (talk) 20:38, 26 November 2013 (UTC)Reply

Kept.​—msh210 (talk) 18:16, 5 December 2013 (UTC)Reply