Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

morton's fork

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.44 in modern English

Syllables
mor-ton's -fork
IPA
20
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A false dilemma in which contradictory arguments lead to the same (unpleasant) conclusion.

noun

A coup in contract bridge that forces an opponent to choose between letting declarer establish extra tricks in the suit led, or losing the opportunity to win any trick in the suit led.

Etymology

Said to have originated with the collecting of taxes by John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury in the late 15th century, who held that a man living modestly must be saving money and could therefore afford taxes, whereas one living extravagantly was obviously rich and could still afford them.

Inflected Forms

Morton's forks (plural)

Questions

What does morton's fork mean?
A false dilemma in which contradictory arguments lead to the same (unpleasant) conclusion.
Where does morton's fork come from?
Said to have originated with the collecting of taxes by John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury in the late 15th century, who held that a man living modestly must be saving money and could therefore afford taxes, whereas one living extravagantly was obviously rich and could still afford them.

How to pronounce morton's fork

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