Counting only to two

[Wilson Gray]

You left out the funny part of that story, Joel. ;-)

As for Gypsies, they've been making a good living off the colored for
dekkids. As the saying goes, "When you find a good horse, ride it to
death." Gypsy fortune-tellers are mentioned in any number of blues and
rhythm-&-blues songs. Gypsies posing as Native Americans collecting
money for rehabbing the educatonal facillities of reservations once
conned me and some friends out of money. The story in the local paper
warning that Gypsies running this game had hit town came too late to
save us. But, at least I was able to recognize this particular con,
the second time that I came across it. The Gypsies hadn't changed the
game at all, another way of riding a good horse to death. The only
thing different was the location. They succeeded in conning me in
Porter Square in Cambridge. When they hit on me again in Boston''s
Downtown Crossing about twenty years later, I knew better than to go
for the okey-doke.

-Wilson

-Wilson

On 4/18/07, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Counting only to two
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> And then there is the tale of the two Romanian noblemen (as told by
> either Victor Borge or Theodore Bikel) who had a contest -- who could
> name the larger number.
>
> The first thought for a moment, and said "two".
>
> The second thought for a while longer, and then said "I give up."
>
> (This probably immediately preceded, or followed, the slur that a
> gypsy would sell you his mother, but a Romanian gypsy would deliver.)
>
> Joel
>
> At 4/18/2007 01:05 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
> >Isn't "They can count only to two" an antiquated fallacy, based on a
> >misunderstaning of the way that the culture uses number, that was
> >first applied to the languages of Australia a century ago? I seem to
> >remember a discussion of this claim as a fallacy in Pei's book, The
> >Story of Language. Of course, I am more than aware that no "real"
> >linguist takes anything that ol' Mario has to say seriously. I first
> >heard his ideas shat upon by barracks-mates at the old Army Language
> >School back in 1960.
> >
> >And yes, I have read Colapinto's article.
> >
> >-Wilson
> >
> >On 4/18/07, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >>---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>-----------------------
> >>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> >>Subject:      Piraha
> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>Cause your linguistics students to read John Colapinto's "The
> >>Interpreter" in the current  _New Yorker_ (Apr. 16).
> >>
> >>   It's about the Amazonian people whose language only counts to
> >> two. Many other odd linguistic and sociolinguistic elements are described also.
> >>
> >>   JL
> >>
> >>
> >>---------------------------------
> >>Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
> >>  Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.
> >>
> >>------------------------------------------------------------
> >>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> >
> >--
> >All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> >come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> >-----
> >                                                      -Sam'l Clemens
> >
> >"Experience" is the ability to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                                      -Sam'l Clemens

"Experience" is the ability to recognize a mistake when you make it again.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org