re: Curiosity about "The Want"

I was a mustang but coached football at Bolton and Buckeye and am now at ASH

have a son at Prompt Succor and a daughter that went to Menard and is now at ASH. What of it?

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Jesus Christ...didn't i already explain this shite to you in another thread. Still sticking with your failed logic i see.

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Were you the one who posted a bunch of definitions of the verb "want" and try to pass it off as a noun?

Choctaw u know ur turning against Miles.....i hope he turns it around and proves me wrong, but i just don't know. i came up in the 80's and loved charly mac and arnsbarger. thought his DC would do good....bust. thought curly wd do good...bust. thought dinardo wd do good....bust
Saban...did good. Miles...did good, looking shakey last two years, this year will tell the tale.

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Amazing. I ask a simple civil question and folks gratuitously try to sling insults, ill-founded ones at that.

BTW Hitchdick, while "want" may be a standard word, "the want" isn't a common phrase.

It seems no-one know the etymology of the phrase or if it has any regional or cultural association. However if someone does, I'd appreciate your sharing the knowledge.

Thanks.

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I wasn't insulting you, some do not take literature courses, others just skim through it. it is very basic word in literature.

ex: "the want of the love of a woman"

personally, I like the fact that our coach uses more unique language than others. "I'm a man, I'm 40" or comparing pitiful losses to real tragedies like 9/11 & pearl harbor.

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Antonio Moss

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holy shite.. not only are you a football genius but you're also an english major.

talk about a poster adding value to this site.

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Well, Mr. Webster disagrees with you:

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merriam-webster disagrees with mr. webster.

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Main Entry: 1want
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Old Norse vanta; akin to Old English wan deficient
Date: 13th century

intransitive verb 1 : to be needy or destitute
2 : to have or feel need <never wants for friends>
3 : to be necessary or needed
4 : to desire to come, go, or be <the cat wants in> <wants out of the deal>transitive verb

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Look, I'm really not trying to be a dick here, but nouns =/= verbs. The way that Miles (and you in your example) use "want" is in noun form. Of course the verb "want" means "to desire." But the noun version of "want" means "an absence or lack of."

So when you say "for want of a woman" you aren't saying "for desire, or to desire a woman," you're saying "for lack of a woman."

Like the old poem "For want of a nail," where the lack of a nail caused the horseshoe to fall off the horse which inevitably cause the nation to lose the war, "want" as a noun literally means a lack of something.

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2 a falling short of an essential or desirable amount or number <there's a notable want of teachers in that rural school district> — see deficiency

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as in....there is a notable want for a running game this season.