[Ads-l] The peasants are revolting (Comic: The Wizard of Id)

[James A. Landau]

The _Blondie_ comic strip has given us "Dagwood sandwich", although I doubt that phrase ever appeared in the strip itself.

Other topics:  In the Washington DC area "the Beltway" can mean specifically the near suburbs of Washington but not DC itself, as in "Beltway bandit" (a term for consulting firms, many of which have offices near the Beltway).

Back when the word "preppie" became fashionable, there was a bumper sticker that read "Save an alligator---Harvest a preppy".  I have no idea who originated that sticker nor whether it was ever trademarked.

The perils of trying to find an earlier text:  I inherited from my father a two-volume copy of _The History of the World Conqueror_ by 'Ala-ad-Din 'Ata-Malik Juvaini. This set dates from sometime before 1960. However I donated it to the 2nd Baptist Church of DC which was collecting textbooks to send to Malawi.  So if anyone wants to use my old copy of the set, s/he will have to go to Malawi.

<quote> Year: 1997
Title: Genghis Khan: The History of the World Conqueror
Author: 'Ala-ad-Din 'Ata-Malik Juvaini
Translated from text of: Mizra Muhammad Qazvini
Translator: John Andrew Boyle
Series: Unesco collection of representative works
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Quote Page 19
Database: Google Books Preview

[Begin excerpt]
When the phoenix (huma) [1] of prosperity wishes to make the roof of
one man its abode, and the owl of misfortune to haunt the threshold of
another, though their stations be widely different, the one in the
zenith of good fortune and the other in the nadir of abasement, yet
neither scarcity of equipment nor feebleness of condition prevents the
fortunate man from attaining his goal---

[1] The huma, a bird of good omen, is actually the Lammergeyer.
[End excerpt] </quote>

I find it unlikely that Chingis Khan, who ruled an empire of nomads who lived in yurts, would refer to the "roof...of an abode".  However, Juvanai (whose first name is "Alladin", just like the Arabian Knights character) was a Persian and I assume that in 13th Century Persia people lived in houses with roofs and thresholds.

-- Jim Landau




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