[Ads-l] Miscellany

[Jonathan Lighter]

My grandparents said only, "'I see,' said the blind man."

That was sufficiently elegant to make the point.

JL

On Mon, Dec 31, 2018 at 6:11 PM Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> Interesting that there are _two_ different completions. Many years ago, ca.
> 1961, it was *vociferously* argued to me that the saying was simply, "'I
> see,' said the blind man," and any addition or extension or other
> modification was an absolute abomination.
>
> Youneverknow.
>
> On Sun, Dec 30, 2018 at 6:43 PM Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:
>
> > On 12/29/18 00:00, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
> > > Date:    Fri, 28 Dec 2018 02:20:47 -0500
> > > From:    Wilson Gray<hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject: Re: Miscellany
> > >
> > > So, you see no distinction between "_go_  through the roof" and "_be_
> > though
> > > the roof"? A father saying, "When she said yes, I went through the
> roof"
> > > and a boyfriend saying, "When she said yes, I was through the roof"
> have
> > > the same meaning?
> > >
> > > "I see," said the blind man, as he picked up his hammer and saw.
> >
> > ". . . to his deaf wife" is the usual completion of "'I see, 'said the
> > blind man', for me.
> >
> > ---Amy West
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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