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Post haste definition zip#
Postal Service to promote the then-new system of ZIP codes.Īs delivery methods were upgraded, post-haste as a command carried with it a scent of antiquity, and was used as a signifier of such.
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McFeely from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood ("Speedy Delivery!") to Mr. The association of courier service with speed and promptness occurs throughout a lot of popular culture, from the character Mr. post office was modeled on the post roads in England used to deliver royal mail, with couriers posted at intervals to deliver the mail along the route. The Duke does greet you, general,Īnd he requires your haste-post-haste appearance, Suddenly taken and hath sent poste-hasteĬASSIO.
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Old John of Gaunt is grievous sick, my lord, The notion caught on so quickly that post-haste was seeing use as an adjective and adverb by the end of the 16th century.īUSHY. In other words, the work of a courier was so routinely associated with speed and efficiency that it was used as a reference point in the language for others doing speedy labors. Post-haste later came to mean great promptness and speed for any purpose, and was used in phrases like in post-haste and in all post-haste. In the 16th century, "haste, post, haste" was used to inform couriers (also called posts) that a letter was urgent. In Middle English, post haste was a noun for the speed with which a person delivering mail was pressed to do their job.
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The post in posthaste has to do with the mail. If you didn't already know the etymology of posthaste, you might see the post at the beginning of the word and assume that it's functioning as a prefix meaning "after," the way it does in Latin words like postmortem, or in English words like postgame or postgraduate, or in movements of art or critical theory like postmodernism or post-structuralism. When the House passed in May the HEROES Act designed to bring billions to cash-strapped New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo urged the Senate to pass it posthaste - warning that “there will be cuts” without the financial aid. If you like tahini desserts or sweet sesame treats, you should make sesame oil brownies posthaste. These brownies are nutty and a little savory, with an aroma so intoxicating, you may find that your nose constantly gravitates towards the pan, pulling the rest of your head with it. Even when posthaste is used in contemporary journalism-in the same contexts in which one might see the initialism ASAP or the hospital jargon stat-there is often a wink accompanying it:
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