Arab & the camel [was Re: Chomsky, Labov, Cassidy, Lakhoff, Dilliard, McDavid,Nixon in 1974.]

[Thomas Paikeday]

If you don't mind a bit of indecent exposure to another non Indo
European language, there is a proverb that sounds somewhat like this:
"Ottakaththinu [to the camel] sthalam [room] koduththathupohlay [like
having given]." Of course any linguist can identify the language or at
least the language group from the proverb's structure.

My question: Recently I said, "You know the story (I mean fable,
Aesop's, if I remember right) of the Arab and the camel." It drew a
blank from a Missourian spiritual director at a Jesuit retreat house (he
is an MSW besides professional qualifications) and a few days later the
same blank from a Chicagoan Carmelite prior. Of course something was
bothering me.

The question (anthropologists, folklorists, please help) is about the
blank.

TOM.

Tim Frazer wrote:
> . . . For me, a rare exposure to a non Indo European language.
>