#56137
02/10/2002 4:06 AM
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Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Emanuala pointed out in another thread
about 2 for the money we say;
prendere due piccioni con una fava:
to catch two pigeons by means of (just) one broad bean (used as a bait).
and i let it drop.. but in english, the closer expression to match the italian would be:
To kill 2 birds with one stone..
before you've killed them, you better not count on them..
Don't count your chickens before they have hatched.
and a sure thing is always best
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
for every saying, it seems, there is one contrary--
Absences make the heart grow fonder.. or is it
Out of sight, out of mind!
which are your favorite little maxims.. and do you know the opposite? or a different language version?
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#56138
02/10/2002 8:05 AM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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#56139
02/10/2002 1:33 PM
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Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Absence makes the heart grow fonder
Out of sight, out of mind!
Not necessarily so opposite. When the object of our affections is out of sight we forget the bad things remembering only the good and become fonder.
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#56140
02/10/2002 2:30 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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My favourite little max I'm.Stunning use of anastrophe you provide! 
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#56141
02/10/2002 4:04 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 315
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 315 |
My favourite little max I'm.
That's more than GREAT, that's MAX!
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#56142
02/10/2002 4:17 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Everything comes to him who waits.
Then Thomas Edison's take on the same:
Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.
Best regards,
WordWaiting
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#56143
02/10/2002 4:57 PM
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Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Everything comes to him who waits.
Words my personal physician lives by: Everything waits who comes to him.
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#56144
02/10/2002 11:40 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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My favourite little max I'm.This was great--you're mine, too!
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#56145
02/11/2002 12:28 AM
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Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Everything comes to him who waits.Not he who waits on tables!
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#56146
02/11/2002 5:50 AM
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 21
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 21 |
Maxims and opposites: You can't teach an old dog new tricks. - You're never too old to learn. Look before you leap. - He who hesitates is lost. A penny saved is a penny earned. - Penny wise, pound foolish. But as for favorites, ahem. The ones below aren't time-honored, but they certainly Sound maxim-ish! In the beginning, there was order. Random order. You can't tell which way the train's gone by looking at the tracks. Tsyganka, who finds that a bird in the hand is usually messy
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#56147
02/11/2002 7:41 PM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
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Everything comes to him who waits.
Not he who waits on tables! They also wait, who only stand and serve also silence is golden, but the service is silver
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#56148
02/11/2002 8:16 PM
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
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veteran
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The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.
In Chinese, "Da shi hua xiao, xiao shi hua wu," meaning "Great things become (can be reduced to) small things, small things become (can be reduced to) nothing."
Another Chinese one is "Big fish eat little fish, little fish eat shrimp, shrimp eat <insert favorite slang term for 'feces' here>"
This is maybe roughly analogous to "Feces rolls down hill." I think there's a better one, but it eludes me at the moment. "The rich get richer while the poor get poorer?"
There's a German one that goes "Der Krug geht so lange zur quelle bis er bricht," meaning "The watering jug goes so many times to the well before it breaks." (Sometimes it's "zer wasser," meaning to the water.) German fellow told me an amusing joke that goes with this, "Der Student geht so lange zum Mensa bis er bricht," meaning "The student goes so many times to the cafeteria before he tosses his cookies." This is a play on the word brechen (bricht) meaning 'to break' and 'erbrechen,' 'to vomit.'
I'm sure there's an English verion. I heard of a french version once, but I don't remember how it went.
k
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#56149
02/11/2002 8:59 PM
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Posts: 5,400
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Carpal Tunnel
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re: "The rich get richer while the poor get poorer?"
maybe this one:
God must truly love the poor, he made so many of them.
(its carved in stone on the old Daily News building on East 42nd Street NY--(far from times square, close to UN)
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#56150
02/12/2002 2:00 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
Spanish maxims (where are you, Marianna?)
Hablando del ruina de Roma por la puerta asoma = Speak of the fall of Rome it appears at the door = Speak of the devil ...
La ultima gota es la que hace rebosar el vaso = It's the final drop that makes the glass overflow = It's the final straw which breaks the camel's back.
Aunque la mona se vista de seda, mona se queda = A monkey dressed in silk is still a monkey = You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
Hay muchos modoes de matar pulgas = There are many ways to kill fleas = There's more than one way to skin a cat.
Mas vale pajaro en mano que cien valando = A bird in the hand is worth more than a hundred flying = A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
La gallina del vecino pone mas huevos que la mia = The neighbor's hen lays more eggs than mine = The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
Huyendo del toro, cayo en el arroyo = Fleeing from the bull, he fell into the brook = He jumped from the frying pan into the fire.
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#56151
02/12/2002 2:17 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Loin des yeux, loin du coeur = Far from eyes, far from heart = Out of sight, out of mind.
Faute d'un point, Martin a perdu son ane = For the lack of one point, Martin lost his donkey = A miss is as good as a mile.
Quand le chat n'est pa la, les souris dansent = When the cat's away, the mice dance = When the cat's away, the mice will play.
Une hirondelle ne fait pas le printemps = One swallow doesn't make a spring = One swallow doesn't make a summer.
Ne vendez pas la peau de l'ours avant de l'avoir tue = Don't sell the bearskin before you've killed the bear = Don't count your chickens before they've hatched.
and, not a maxim, but an idiom which I must mention:
Avoir la langue bien pendue = to have a well-hung tongue = The gift of gab.
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#56152
02/12/2002 2:26 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Meglio fringuello in man che tordo in frasca = Better a finch in hand than a thrush on a branch = A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Troppi cuochi guastano il pranzo = Too many cooks spoil the dinner = Too many cooks spoil the broth.
Chi dorme, non piglia pesci = He who sleeps catches no fish = The early bird catches the worm.
Non fare il passo piu lungo della gamba = Don't take a step longer than your leg = Don't bit off more than you can chew.
Quando si e in ballo, bisogna ballare = When at a dance, one must dance = In for a penney, in for a pound.
Poco brigata, vita beata = The less company, the more peaceful life = (sort of) Two's company, three's a crowd.
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#56153
02/12/2002 2:40 PM
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Carpal Tunnel
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Az di mutr shrayt oyfn kind mamzer, meg mensh ir gloybn = If a mother calls her child a bastard you can believe her.
Eydr tsu shtarbn fon hungr, es is shoyn besr tsu essn gebratns = Rather than die of hunger, I'd sooner eat a roast.
Libe iz vi putr, siz gut tsum broyt = Love is like butter, it goes well with bread.
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#56154
02/12/2002 3:03 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Cave tibi cane muto, aqua silente = Beware of the silent dog and still water.
Semper graculus assidet graculo = A blackbird always sits close to a blackbird = Birds of a feather flock together.
Mortuo leoni et lepores insultant = The lion dies and even the hares insult him.
Felix ille tamen corvo quoque rarior albo = A happy man is rarer than a white crow.
Terretur minimo pennae stridore columba. Unguibus, accipiter, saucia facta tuis = O hawk, the dove that's been wounded by your talons is frightened by the least flutter of a feather = One bitten, twice shy.
Habet et musca splenem = Even a fly has a spleen.
Dum felis dormit, mus gaudet et exsilit antro = When the cats fall asleep, the mouse rejoices and leaps from his hole = When the cat's away, the mice will play.
Lucri bonus odor ex re qualibet = The smell of profits is good whatever it comes from.
Pecunia regina mundi Money is the queen of the world = Money makes the world go around.
Nec quicquam acrius quam pecuniae damnum stimulat = Nothing stings more deeply than the loss of money.
Absens haeres non erit The absent one will not be the heir.
Malum vas non frangitur = A bad vase doesn't break.
Sero venientibus ossa = Bones for those who come late = First come, first served; or The early bird catches the worm.
Rufos esse minus fideles = Redheads are less trustworthy.
Altissima quaeque flumina minimo sono labi = The deepest rivers flow with the least sound = Still waters run deep.
Inest sua gratia parvis = Even little things have their peculiar grace.
Dum vivimus, vivamus = While we live, let us live.
Ne sutor ultra crepidam = Let the cobbler stick to his sandals.
Multa cadunt inter calicem supremaque labra = Many things slip between cup and lip = There is many a slip between cup and lip.
Non est fumus absque igne = There's no smoke without fire = Where there is smoke, there is fire.
Bis dat qui cito dat = He give twice who gives quickly.
Saxum volutum non obducitur musco = A rolling stone is not covered with moss = A rolling stone gathers no moss.
Dictum sapienti sat est = A word to the wise is sufficient.
Quis vult vitare Charybdim incidit in Scyllam = He who wishes to avoid Charybdis falls into Scylla = Jump from the frying pan into the fire.
Cuiuslibet est solum, eius usque ad coelum = He who has property in the soil has the same up to the sky.
Exceptio probat regulam The exception proves the rule.
Corruptio optimi psessima = The corruption of the best is the worst.
Omnia vincit amor = Love conquers all.
De gustibus non est disputandum = Thjere is no disputing tastes = There is no accounting for taste.
Ignorantia legis neminum excusat = Ignorance of the law is no excuse.
Nimium ne crede colori = Don't trust too much in appearances = You can't tell a book by its cover.
Aegroto dum anima est, spes est = To the sick, while there is life, there is hope.
Praemonitus praemunitus = Forewarned, forearmed.
Qualis pater talis filius = Like father, like son.
Qui me amat, amat et canem meam = Who loves me, loves my dog.
Mulier cupido quod dicit amanti, in vento et rapida scribere oportet aqua = What a woman says to her fond lover should be written on air or the swift water.
Aperte mala cum est mulier, tum demum est bona = When a woman is openly bad she is then at her best.
And from Martial, Roman epigrammatist (AD 40 - 102):
Calvo turpius est nihil compto = There's nothing more contemptible than a bald man who pretends to have hair.
Si post fata venit gloria non propero = If fame comes after death, I'm in no hurry for it.
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#56155
02/12/2002 3:10 PM
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Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Habet et musca splenem = 'Splain me why you have a habit of eating musksticks.
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#56156
02/12/2002 4:32 PM
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
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veteran
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One of my favorites:
Qui docet, discet. = He who teaches, learns.
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#56157
02/13/2002 1:10 AM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,067 Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
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Exceptio probat regulam -The exception proves the rule.
Did I miss something along the way? I learned that one as
"The exception tests the rule" - if it couldn't account for the apparent exception, the rule didn't hold...
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#56158
02/13/2002 1:12 AM
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Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Yes -- prove being a synonym for test, as in the phrase proving grounds.
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#56159
02/13/2002 1:52 AM
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Posts: 3,409
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#56160
02/13/2002 2:08 AM
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Posts: 11,067 Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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prove being a synonym for test, as in the phrase proving grounds
Sure, but that's not the way it's generally interpreted in the modern parlance. Usually it's taken as meaning "demonstrates the validity of," which is something else entirely.
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#56161
02/13/2002 3:06 AM
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Posts: 2,891
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Allo Faldage,
I don't understand the Rather than die of hunger, I'd sooner eat a roast. maxim.
Does the roast have any particular meaning? I must be misunderstanding something because the way I read it, it says "I'd rather eat meat than starve" and that is pretty self evident cause we eat every day.
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#56162
02/13/2002 3:24 AM
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Posts: 2,605
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Sure, but that's not the way it's generally interpreted in the modern parlance. Agreed that what you note is the general interpretation. Also agreed that the statement, when so interpreted, is entirely different -- and, I'd think, is untrue. In other words, I'm suggesting that the "general interpretation" perverts the meaning of the maxim. Bartleby, http://www.bartleby.com/68/30/2330.html more or less supports the reading I gave above. But on further LIU I suspect that the original meaning is completely different. Cicero: Quod si exceptio facit ne liceat, ubi necesse est licere, or roughly, [help me here, faldage] "That which a special provision makes illegal in some circumstances, is thus [by inference] shown to be legal in all other circumstances." There are old English law cases that express this as Exceptio probat regulam de rebus non exceptis ("The exception proves [confirms] the rule so far as concerns the matters not excepted.")
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#56163
02/13/2002 3:38 AM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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An endless list -- but among my favorites:
When a father helps a son, both smile; when a son must help his father, both cry.
When a young man marries, he divorces his mother.
With little children, little troubles; with big children, big troubles.
A man is not honest just because he has had no chance to steal.
A saloon can't corrupt a good man, and a synagogue can't reform a bad one.
If triangles had a God, He would have three sides.
"For instance" is not proof.
Safeguarding a girl in love is harder than guarding a sackful of fleas.
A rabbi whose congregation doesn't want to run him out of town isn't a rabbi; and a rabbi whose congregation does run him out of town isn't a man.
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#56164
02/13/2002 3:46 AM
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Posts: 2,605
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Max, I can't vouch for these as being NZ Maaori, but so says the source in which I found them:
Little dogs make the most noise.
No one needs help to get into trouble.
An obedient wife commands her man.
Idle young men become unhappy old men.
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#56165
02/13/2002 12:37 PM
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
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veteran
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I don't know how this is said in other languages, but my grandpa used to tell me
"Shoot fer the moon if ya do hit a potato."
I've always liked it.
k
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#56166
02/13/2002 1:50 PM
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Posts: 13,803
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It does seem rather self evident, doesn't it? But then so does the mamzr one. The libe iz vi putr has me scratching my head.
I've heard it explained on some obscure philological grounds that the roast in question was a pork roast, but I'm not sure I believe the argument. The conclusion makes sense just all by itself; it says that it's OK to break kosher rather than starve. I remember a scene from one of the myriad Entebbe movies that came out after the successful raid in which a young woman was desperately trying to convince her very orthodox grandfather that it said in the Torah that it was OK to eat nonkosher if the alternative was starving to death.
On the other hand, it might just be a response to something like, "I sure don't want to go to that little brat's bar mitzvah. I'd rather just stay at home and watch TV."
On the third hand, that shoyn besr might not be best translated with "I'd rather".
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#56167
02/13/2002 2:59 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
I don't understand the Rather than die of hunger, I'd sooner eat a roast maxim.
Heh. I thought that maybe he was referring to my mother-in-law's cooking.
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#56168
02/13/2002 3:10 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I'd sooner eat a roast maximAUGH! Don't eat my sweet Maxie!!! 
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#56169
02/13/2002 5:30 PM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 131
member
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member
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I don't hear 'your sweet Maxie' opposing the idea!
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#56170
02/13/2002 6:48 PM
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Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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He who hesitates is lost. If sometimes we don't get lost, there's a chance we may never find our way. The big thing is to do it. --Kit KarsonWe can complain because rose bushes have thorns or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses! Give me a fish and I eat for a day. Teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime. A great deal of talent is lost in the world for want of a little courage. We grow too soon alt, und too late schmart. --Pennsylvania DutchNothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. --Madame CurieThere but for the grace of God go I. --St. Francis of AssissiNever judge another man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins. --Native AmericanWhenever they call me a dreamer, I think of Walt Disney and smile. Only the hand that erases can write the true thing. --Meister EckhardtEnjoy life!...you might have been a barnacle. Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it. --Wm ShakespeareThe important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become. --Charles Du BoisMaxims are the condensed good sense of nations. --Sir J. MackintoshLove the one you're with. --Stephen Stills 
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#56171
02/13/2002 7:16 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Posts: 1,773 |
It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness. -- Somebody
Stupid darkness! -- Lucy VanPelt
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#56172
02/13/2002 7:25 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Stupid darkness!
Without darkness there would be no light. -- Somebody Else
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#56173
02/13/2002 8:19 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 328
enthusiast
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enthusiast
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Posts: 328 |
We grow too soon alt, und too late schmart. --Pennsylvania Dutch
I've seen this countless times in cheap touristy booklets of "PA Dutch" or "Amish" sayings, yet I've never heard a genuine Pennsylvania Dutchman/woman actually say it. How about you, Byb?
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#56174
02/13/2002 8:47 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Every one brings joy to my life, some when they arrive, some when they depart.
i used to have this as a poster in my office.. and i might yet print it up in fancy fonts, and frame it..
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#56175
02/13/2002 9:13 PM
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Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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I never met a man I didn't like. --Will Rogers
I never liked a man I didn't meet. --Roger Wills
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#56176
02/13/2002 10:24 PM
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
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veteran
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Since someone has asked me what it means to "shoot for the moon if you do hit a potato," I will say that I take it to roughly mean "it's the journey that counts, and not the destination."
k
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