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Archiver > LONDON > 2005-11 > 1131582496


From: Eve McLaughlin <>
Subject: Re: [Lon] Re: How bad is it to 'Blot one's Copybook"
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 00:28:16 +0000
In-Reply-To: <006601c5e56c$55893050$a42d4618@Seanix>


In message <006601c5e56c$55893050$>, Margaret Cambridge
<> writes
>I believe to "Blot one's Copybook" is a British phrase so hopefully someone
>can give me some idea as to how serious it could be. On google I have found
>that it is likely to be a permanent record.

It comesof course, from the schoolroom, where a child fair copying a
passage in his exercise book spills ink over it - a bad error which
could not be concealed and would attract punishment.
By extension, anyone who make a bad mistake, which cannot be concealed
or ignored, which leaves a permanent stain (figurative) on the character
'blots his copybook.'

--
Eve McLaughlin

Author of the McLaughlin Guides for family historians
Secretary Bucks Genealogical Society

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