[Ads-l] Query about "Third time's the charm" and its Dutch equivalent

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

One of my former students wrote to me today:

I have a Dutch friend, Florian, who I play cards with online.  Recently
I used the phrase Third time's the charm, and I asked him if they had
anything similar in Dutch.
He said they have one very similar, Driemaal is scheepsrecht.
It has the same connotation as the English phrase but actually translates
to Third time is ship's law.  Florian speaks very good English but didn't
know himself what the Ship's law portion of it actually refers to.  Just
wondering if you had encountered this before, or if there was anything
similar in other languages!

That's the message I received from my student. Any insight/information on
the expression would be very gratefully received.

Gerald Cohen




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