> > This is why most people have to use a crib sheet while reading Shakespeare's comedies. The tragedies don't seem to go out of fashion as rapidly, thankfully.
>
> What IS a crib sheet? I read Shakespeare a LOT, and I think I've run up against that before somewhere or other, but I've never bothered to find out what it is, and now I'm curious.
>
> Unipeg

One old meaning of 'crib' was to steal, plagiarise or cheat. A 'crib sheet' was the piece of paper you hid up your sleeve before entering an exam, with important dates or formulae writ small upon it. It's meaning has been extended to include any notes used as an aide-mémoire.

enile