Eskimos, move over!

[Jonathan Lighter]

1924 Lowell Thomas _With Lawrence in Arabia_ (Garden City, N.Y.: Century)
150: [The Arabs] are very proud of their language and call it the language
of the angels; they believe it is spoken in heaven. It is one of the most
difficult languages in the world to master. According to our way of thinking
the Arabs begin at the end of a sentence and write backward. They have 450
words meaning "line," 822 words meaning "camel," and 1037  words meaning
"sword."  They call a hobo "a son of the road" and a jackal "a son of
howling." Arab despatch writers penned their accounts in picturesque vein."

(Yes, it's *the* Lowell Thomas.)

JL

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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