[Ads-l] Quote: I am that civilization you are fighting for. (April 20, 1914)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Ezra Pound wrote afterward that ten million died for a "botched
civilization," including a bunch of useless books and statuary.

So, according to Ezra, the laugh was on them.

JL

On Wed, Nov 11, 2015 at 11:26 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Quote: I am that civilization you are fighting for.
> (April
>               20, 1914)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Geoff: Thanks for your kind words. Your anecdote about the war effort
> and Oxford during WWI is great. I have not been able to trace it yet,
> but I will do my part in the grand enterprise to acquire and
> disseminate knowledge by "searching and typing, mostly".
> Garson
>
> On Wed, Nov 11, 2015 at 1:15 AM, Geoffrey Nunberg
> <nunberg at ischool.berkeley.edu> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Geoffrey Nunberg <nunberg at ISCHOOL.BERKELEY.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: Quote: I am that civilization you are fighting for.
> (April
> >               20, 1914)
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > This is lovely and surely definitive, Garson. I=E2=80=99ve heard another
> =
> > version, though, which I think goes more honestly to the academic heart =
> > of things. The questioner is an enterprising young Fleet Street reporter
> =
> > who goes to Oxford during WWI to find out what the university is doing =
> > for the war effort. He asks the question of some famous classicist
> =E2=80=94=
> >  Gilbert Murray, I think =E2=80=94 and receives the answer,
> =E2=80=9CReadi=
> > ng, mostly."
> >
> > Geoff
> >>=20
> >>=20
> >> From: ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> >> Subject: Re: Quote: I am that civilization you are fighting for. =
> > (April 20, 1914)
> >> Date: November 10, 2015 at 8:42:22 AM PST
> >>=20
> >>=20
> >> Back in April 2013 I posted to the list about the topic in the subject
> >> line. After a brief delay of only two and a half years an entry is now
> >> available on the QI website. List member Dan Nussbaum was
> >> acknowledged:
> >>=20
> >> I Am the Civilization You Are Fighting For
> >> http://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/11/09/i-am/
> >>=20
> >> Feedback welcome, Garson
> >>=20
> >>=20
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org