On Tue, 23 Sep 2008, Kenneth MacKenzie wrote:

> Tom Anderson  writes:
>
>> I'm sure it comes from the idea of swapping one for another, but i've
>> only ever heard it used to describe a reduction in the severity of the
>> sentence - from death to imprisonment, or imprisonment to a suspended
>> sentence. I think it has the sense of swapping one thing for another,
>> lesser, thing.
>
> Yep.  My (Chambers') dictionary says, among other things,
>
> "to exchange (esp. the death sentence) for a less severe punishment"
>
> Still seems a little odd though: the use of the word "exchange" kind of 
> suggests that some other unfortunate offender suddenly gets the death 
> penalty instead of the 50 pound fine that they'd originally incurred.

I've just had an idea for the next revision of the Road Traffic Act ...

tom

-- 
Know who said that? Fucking Terrorvision, that's who. -- D