Morton's fork

noun

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.

Definitions

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

  2. A coup in contract bridge that forces an opponent to choose between letting declarer…

    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.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for Morton's fork. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA