"A Quaker hates a parrot"

[Puellaest]

Fox himself used the analogy for his belief that anyone could speak
with God and the current system was nothing more than the parishioners
repeating the words of the priest.

He wrote "and may not a parrot be taught to speak any language? and is
it not all what ye know, ye know naturally, that say, you have not the
same power and Spirit of God, and Holy Ghost as the apostles
had?" [1671, Fox's prison journal]


Sarah

On 12-Oct-10, at 9:16 PM, Garson O'Toole wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "A Quaker hates a parrot"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The meaning of the parrot quote might be illuminated by examining the
> other items that Quakers are supposed to hate in similar
> constructions. Here is a quick sample. The dates are from Google Books
> and I didn't check them carefully. The books might be reprints:
>
> [1736]
> Never was Poetry under so great an Oppression as now, as full of
> Phanaticisms as Religion; where every one pretends to the Spirit of
> Wit, sets up a Doctrine of his own, and hates a Poet worse than a
> Quaker does a Priest.
>
> [1807]
> For she abhors this monster more than space,
> More than a Quaker hates a golden lace,
>
> [1826]
> Psha! I hate dogs and guns worse than a quaker hates a drum
>
> [1896]
> I hate them as a Quaker hates gunpowder
>
> On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 10:23 PM, Dan Goncharoff
> <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: "A Quaker hates a parrot"
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> 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:
>>
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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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