[Ads-l] 1868 Disraeli-attributed quotation: "...My ancestors were lords of the tabernacle...his were naked savages...."

[GEOFFREY NUNBERG]

I heard an Italian version of this one several years ago, reported as if witnessed by the speaker himself. A bunch of Lega Nord (Northern separatist party) members were in Rome for a convention of some sort and were carousing in a taverna, making fun of the locals. One of the Romans finally stood up and said, “Senti, quando i vostri antenati si vestivano in pelle d’orso, i miei furono giá froci.” = “When your ancestors were wearing bear skins, mine were already faggots.”

Geoff 



> From: ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: 1868 Disraeli-attributed quotation: "...My ancestors were lords of the tabernacle...his were naked savages...."
> Date: January 6, 2017 at 1:18:56 PM CST
> 
> 
> Great citation, Stephen. Thanks for sharing it, and thanks for posting
> on a different thread the 1860 citation with quotes attributed
> Frederic of Prussia, Marshal McMahon, and Napoleon in a book authored
> by James Parton.
> Garson
> 
> On Thu, Jan 5, 2017 at 9:55 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
>> Mr. D'Israeli never forgets--never allows others to forget--that he is of that race whence all our prophets came and Jesus Christ himself was born....
>> 
>> On one occasion, when taunted with being a descendant perhaps of the thief on the cross, he replied, in proud and soul-stirring words, "My blood thrills with the traditions of my race! My ancestors were lords of the tabernacle and princes of Israel when his were naked savages in the woods of Northern Germany."
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> March, 1868, The Phrenological Journal and Life Illustrated, p. 86 col. 1
>> 
>> https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924057441390;view=1up;seq=92
>> 
>> 
>> Stephen Goranson
>> 
>> http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/
>> 
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 

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