3 score years and 10

[jpskiller]

does anyone know what this phrase translates to in english years!, childs homework and its lost us!

 

[Dieselman]

Err...70 years of age..

 

[scgfull]

A score is 20 years.

So 3 score years and 10 is 70 years (also the average years of life!)

Steve

 

[jpskiller]

cheers thought it was 30, there we go learn something new every day.

 

[Rory]

Google answers all of these kinds of questions straight off!

 

[jpskiller]

tried that, be surprised what junk it threw back

 

[HughJarse]

Three score and ten
Meaning
The span of a life. In the days that this was coined that was considered to be seventy years.
Origin
Threescore used to be used for sixty, in the way that we still use a dozen for twelve, and (occasionally) score for twenty. It has long since died out in that usage but is still remembered in this phrase. Threescore goes back to at least 1388, as in this from John Wyclif's Bible, Leviticus 12, at that date:

"Thre scoor and sixe daies."
​

There are numerous uses of 'threescore' in the Bible. Most of them refer to its simple meaning as the number sixty, for example:

"...threescore and ten bullocks, an hundred rams, and two hundred lambs: all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord."
​

There is a use of it that refers to the span of our lives, in Psalms 90:

The days of our years are threescore years and ten;
and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years,
yet is their strength labor and sorrow;
for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
​

As with many other Biblical phrases, this was picked up by Shakespeare. In Macbeth, we have:

Threescore and ten I can remember well:
Within the volume of which time I have seen
Hours dreadful and things strange; but this sore night
Hath trifled former knowings.
​

It's an odd fact that, although Shakespeare took numerous phrases and examples of imagery from the Bible, the word Bible doesn't appear in any of his plays.

Phrases.org

 

[BonzoDog]

[/INDENT]It's an odd fact that, although Shakespeare took numerous phrases and examples of imagery from the Bible, the word Bible doesn't appear in any of his plays.

Phrases.org

Could it be 'tit for tat' as the Bible ignored the Bard?

 

[SimonsMerc]

Could it be 'tit for tat' as the Bible ignored the Bard?

Made me laugh, thank you

-simon

 

[saorbust]

does anyone know what this phrase translates to in english years!, childs homework and its lost us!

You sure you aren't trying to avoid admiting that you watched East Enders?

(Which by definition means I did of course.... )

 

[jpskiller]

You sure you aren't trying to avoid admiting that you watched East Enders?

(Which by definition means I did of course.... )

I know I dident, was out, but thats not to say my daughter dident, good point

 

[stats007]

didn't

 

[jpskiller]

didn't

cheers

 

[Rory]

tried that, be surprised what junk it threw back

Well, sometimes it's a bit fussy about how things are written. For your query, I put - three score years and ten - (no quote marks, AND signs etc) and the very first hit in the list (without even having to click on the link) says:
Three score and ten
Three score and ten. Meaning. The span of a life. In the days that this was coined that was considered to be seventy years. ...
www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/380400.html - 8k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this


If you put - 3 score years and 10 - then, yes, you do get a lot of stuff, but not the answer you need.