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Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Idioms 297. The idiom today is by hook or by
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crook. Okay. Let's take a look at the note here. If someone says that he or she will
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do something by hook or by crook, he or she means they will do it in any way
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possible. Either in a fair way or an unfair way, or
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by legal or illegal means. It especially suggests that one is willing to cross
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the line and do something illegal or immoral just to make sure that they can
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get this thing because they want it that badly or they need to get it that badly.
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So they'll do it by hook or by crook. Either way they would probably prefer to,
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prefer to do it legally or you know, in a fair way but if they couldn't they have
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no problem with doing it in the unfair way or the illegal way. All right. Let's
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continue. There are a few theories about the origin but several are questionable.
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Some of the others are questionable, especially because the the dates are a
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little late. You know I think the phrase was around before that time and there
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was hardly anything to back them up. So this one I think is probably the best
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one. So let's let's continue here. The one that seems to be the most likely refers
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back to a custom during the 1300s or 1400s in which commoners ... you know like
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when there's a king. The regular people referred to as commoners were allowed to
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take deadwood from the Kings forest. Technically , it was believed to be the
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king ... it was believed the King owed the forest. The whole forest including
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the trees and anything in it. the king was gracious enough you know,
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generous, enough nice enough, to allow the peasants to take that wood for firewood.
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So they take this wood that's already dead and they can use it to heat their
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homes. Most peasants would pull down the wood with
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a Reapers billhook. You know, like the reaper you know the grim reaper. So like
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one of those. Or a shepherd's crook. Yeah. If you ever seen the old shepherd you
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know, yeah. He has kind of that staff That goes around and kind of curves. So they
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might use either one of those two. Thus the term by hook or crook was born. So
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either by the billhook or the shepherd's crook. Okay. And we just have a couple of
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examples here. That political party is trying to find a way to take down the
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president by hook or by crook. Yeah. If they could try to make it a legal way,
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they'll do that. But if they can't they have no problems crossing the line
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and maybe doing it in an unfair or illegal way. Or again number two. That
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host country for the Olympics wants to make sure they will win a large amount
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of medals. Yeah. Most countries that hold the Olympics, they
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want to do well because you know they're in front of their own people. So they
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usually try harder to make sure that they get more medals that time than they
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normally would. Either by hook or by crook. They are seriously training their
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athletes. Maybe they're putting more money into it to compete but they are
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also willing to bribe judges if necessary. So they're willing to do it by
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hook or by crook. Okay. Anyway, I hope you got it. I hope it was clear. Thank you for your
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time. Bye-bye.