GC Quest, An Officer and a Wise Man, Merlwyb's dialogue

[Llewelyn]

Noticed a minor typo when talking to Merlwyb after dispatching the raiders outside the cave for An Officer and a Wise Man:

Merlwyb: <sigh> And now I suppose courtesy dictates I explain myself. My advisors would most certainly advise against it, of course...but they are not here, and I rarely heed their cautioning cries when they are. So then, I have heard the whisperings concerning the Archon and know that there are many who would brand him an enemy of the realm. I, for my part, would not have you believe that I was conspiring with a criminal, and spread rumors to that effect, as is doubtless your wont.

Second-to-last word should be 'you' not 'your.' Drop one letter, and we're set!

[Urthdigger]

"Doubtless your wont" means "I don't doubt you'd do that". It's an archaic phrase.

[Viridiana]

Yeah, "wont" is a noun, making the phrase grammatically correct. Now, if it said "want," the entire clause would have to be changed. . .

[Llewelyn]

"Doubtless your wont" means "I don't doubt you'd do that". It's an archaic phrase.

The only google hit for the phrase is this thread, so I doubt it's an archaic phrase that ever saw any real usage.

Far as using 'wont' as a noun, I hadn't thought of that, but I don't think that was the intent.

Which makes more sense?


Noun:

[I would rather you not] spread rumors to that effect, as is doubtless your habit.

or

Verb:

[I would rather you not] spread rumors to that effect, as [it] is doubtless you won't.

I suppose grammatically the noun makes more sense, but I don't see any reason why Merlywb would assume the worst about the player after coming to her aid like that, esp. given the way she's talking.

At this point in the story, the player has bumped into Urianger a number of times and knows the rumors are false. I know the player is silent (far as we can see), but that doesn't mean he's mute, if you understand my meaning.

Seems like it ought to be clarified either way.

[AndrewN]

I have to agree with Urthdigger and Viridiana, the word usage is archaic but correct. Although a search for "doubtless your wont" yields only this thread, a search for "your wont" gives a much longer list (although I will accept a number of them could be spelling mistakes). This thread, which appears on the top of the google search, uses the phrase "as is your wont" which is much closer to the usage I am familiar with.

[Urthdigger]

Basically, "wont" means what you're inclined to do. "Doubtless your want" would mean "doubtless you're inclined to do", "As is your wont" would mean "As you're inclined to do". It's probably etymologically close to the verb "want".

[Llewelyn]

Yeah. I got all that - read my last post. It looks like it was intended to be an archaic usage, but if so, it doesn't seem to fit in with the situation, even though it might be grammatically correct.