Heard on The Judges: Asian proverb

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Tue Apr 29 15:12:42 UTC 2008


Charlie wrote:

"Her version is rather neatly turned!"

Right, Charlie.. That's exactly why I thought that it was worth noting.

Strangely enough, the Shakespearean saying is the only one that I'm
familiar with and that only half-assedly. Of course, I've long known
that payback's a bitch. :-)

-Wilson

On Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 10:12 AM, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
>
> Subject:      Re: Heard on The Judges: Asian proverb
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  Proverbs and aphorisms exist in several languages that remark on how lending turns a friend into a foe. In English: "When I lent, I was a friend; when I asked [for repayment], I was unkind. So of my friend I made a foe; therefore, I will no more do so."  "Lend your money and lose your friend."  "If you would make an enemy, lend a man money, and ask it of him again."
>
>  The version uttered by Polonious in _Hamlet_ is "Neither a borrower nor a lender be / For loan oft loses both itself and friend."
>
>  Wilson, I notice that the speaker you quote didn't specifically identify the "old saying" as an ASIAN. Her version is rather neatly turned!
>
>  --Charlie
>  _____________________________________________________________
>
>
>  ---- Original message ----
>  >Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:04:30 -0400
>  >From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>  >Subject: Heard on The Judges: Asian proverb
>  >
>
> >During the man-in-the-street portion of Judge Milian, an outside man sks random people their opinion of a case. This case had to do with elatives being sued by other relatives for payback of a loan. When a iddle-aged, Asian-American woman was asked her opinion, she replied:
>  >
>  >"There's an old saying:
>  >
>  >'When you lend to a friend, you'll be repaid by an enemy.'"
>  >
>  >-Wilson
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>  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

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list