"A Quaker hates a parrot"

[Dan Goncharoff]

>From "Reflections on Baroque", by Robert Harbison

"Grotesque figures of speech often achieve a similar effect on a smaller
scale. Millamant is said to hate Mirabelle more than a Quaker hates a parrot
or a fishmonger a hard frost. It is a joke which treads near madness it its
far-fetched irrelevance."

DanG

On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 9:49 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      "A Quaker hates a parrot"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> A correspondent asks:
>
> >In Way of the World, Witwould says that Lady Wishfort "hates
> >Mirabell  worse than a Quaker hates a parrot or than a fishmonger
> >hates a hard frost."
> >I can see where a fishmonger would hate a hard frost, but why would
> >a Quaker hate a parrot?
> >The only reasons that occur to me are that Quakers value silence and
> >parrots are said to be noisy, or that a parrot who spoke might
> >repeat  words no Quaker should know.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> Joel
>
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