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The Kitchen Table

Phrase of the day 12/19

jim_1 (Zone 5B)

5 years ago

To make a clean breast

This phrase possibly goes back to the ancient custom of branding a sinner on the breast with a symbol appropriate to the evil he or she had committed (remember Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter?). Thus a person who confessed all would be one who had come clean or made a clean breast of it. By confessing, sin had been purged.

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Comments (2)

stacey_mb
5 years ago
Thank you for this. I was struck by the fact that when Hester wore the letter A in The Scarlet Letter it not only represented Adultery, it was also the letter of her "beau," I believe his name was Arthur. So the people of the town unconsciously pinned Hester with her co-adulturer's name.
Lars
5 years ago
My Great (to the 9th) grandfather was arrested in Rhode Island around 1730 for adultery, along with his co-adulterer. They were both put in jail, but I don't know for how long. The report says that he was caught with his pants down and her dress up.
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