(thing) by Ninja-Lad Tue May 30 2000 at 21:05:25
dictionary.com:
Daring or reckless action

Not to be confused with herring-do, which involves a small fish, a gallon of oil, and very sore buttocks afterwards.

This is the type of word/phrase scattered throughout those horrible books Freshman English teachers in American high schools delight in forcing upon their charges, muffling cackles with a mildewed copy of Giants in the Grass or A Separate Peace.

I like it!
(idea) by junkpile Sat Oct 21 2000 at 17:19:55

Here's what happened more or less.

One day, Spenser was reading Chaucer, and found a passage in which Troilus is described as being second to no one in "derring do that longeth to a knight." In other words "in daring to do that which belongs to a knight." Spencer thought he had discovered a new figure of speech, "derring-do." He assumed it meant something along the lines of "desperate courage," I don't know why, and, without having done any research on the validity of the term, started using it in his books.

It was later picked up by Sir Walter Scott, and he used the phrase in Ivanhoe. And now it's in your dictionary.

Forgive me if this information is a bit off - no one quite agrees on the specifics of who fucked it up first. There's a guy named Lydgate who figures in there somewhere, too.


I found bits of this information all over the web, but the best source by far was:
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/pcgardner/ee/EDline/Vol_02/02_27.txt

I like it! This writeup has been cooled by:  
Segnbora-t, Jet-PoopX 2 C!s

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