a confusion of philosophers

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Sat Sep 10 16:22:43 UTC 2011


2010 Ron Hirschbein in Richard Brian Davis, ed. _Alice in Wonderland and
Philosophy_ (Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley) 35: After attending a philosophy meeting,
my son coined a term for such a group; said he: "You've heard of a
parliament of owls; how 'bout a confusion of philosophers?"

My, my, how 'bout that?

OED has "parliament of owls" from Lipton 1968 only:

1886 _The Current_ (Chicago, Ill.) (June 12) 388: [T]he stately edifice/
That once was palpitant with prayer and praise,/ Re-echoes to a parliament
of owls.

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

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