[spoilers]Oh Canada! Victoria has a Commodore, eh?

[Bobchillingworth]

/unsubscribe

Shouldn't you be petrolling for bots?

I don't get it.

Heh, it has been too long since I Saudi first film.

[suttree]

Oh we'll keep pumping them out! Inside you're secretly gushing...

My reaction to this thread:

[Commodore]

Okay. Moving from that, Kipling.

Canadian Faces: Bank Clerk in Toronto

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market-Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall.
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn,
That water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision, and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market-Place;
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch.
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch.
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings.
So we worshiped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbor and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selective Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew,
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four —
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

* * * * * *


As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man —
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began: —
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

[Dp101]

What happened to that production graph?

[Hashoosh]

Golden ages are a hell of a drug?

[Boldly Going Nowhere]

Full Riker Clap when I'm not posting from mobile.

[DaveV]

"The Wages of Sin is Death."

Am I the only person that's irritated by that translation each time I read it? Plural subject, singular verb and object. How about "the payment for sin is death", or "the remuneration for sin is death"? Makes me want to build a time machine so I can whack King James upside his head.

/rant

[Commodore]

"The Wages of Sin is Death."

Am I the only person that's irritated by that translation each time I read it? Plural subject, singular verb and object. How about "the payment for sin is death", or "the remuneration for sin is death"? Makes me want to build a time machine so I can whack King James upside his head.

/rant

I don't know, I think the King James' is one of our culture's more delightful linguistic treasures. Imprecision for poetic power; that's the wonder of a ton of English lit.

Makes the language a stone-plated bitch to learn, though, I'll grant.

[DaveV]

"The Wages of Sin is Death."

Am I the only person that's irritated by that translation each time I read it? Plural subject, singular verb and object. How about "the payment for sin is death", or "the remuneration for sin is death"? Makes me want to build a time machine so I can whack King James upside his head.

/rant

I don't know, I think the King James' is one of our culture's more delightful linguistic treasures. Imprecision for poetic power; that's the wonder of a ton of English lit.

Poetry and correct grammar aren't mutually exclusive. I remember reading long ago that sonnets were prized for the art of expressing yourself while adhering to the narrowly defined structure.

/threadjack

[Hashoosh]

You could argue that correct grammar changes while the verse stays the same