Why do we say it?
“Sent to Coventry’* A person cannot be. worse punished than by "being sent to Coventry,” that is, by being allowed to live and move and have his being among people who simply ignore his presence. The saying and the custom are of military origin. The citizens of Coventry had, at one time, so great a dislike for soldiers that no intercourse whatever was allowed between the garrison and the town. Any woman seen talking to a soldier was immediately ostracized. Hence, when a soldier was sent to Coventry he was at once cut off from social life. Banishment "to Coventry” is now reserved as a punishment for contemptible conduct such as offends against common decency, even wnen such conduct is not against the law. z Except in flagrant cases of unsocial conduct, it is the meanest form of tyranny, and is too common as the culminating injustice of gossip-fed village opinion.
Permanent link to this item
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST19300531.2.107
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Southland Times, Issue 21097, 31 May 1930, Page 8
Word count
Tapeke kupu
156Why do we say it? Southland Times, Issue 21097, 31 May 1930, Page 8
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