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