From cowan@ccil.org Fri Jan 25 17:09:54 2002 Return-Path: X-Sender: cowan@mercury.ccil.org X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_1_3); 26 Jan 2002 01:09:54 -0000 Received: (qmail 58198 invoked from network); 25 Jan 2002 23:35:15 -0000 Received: from unknown (216.115.97.167) by m4.grp.snv.yahoo.com with QMQP; 25 Jan 2002 23:35:15 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO mercury.ccil.org) (192.190.237.100) by mta1.grp.snv.yahoo.com with SMTP; 25 Jan 2002 23:35:15 -0000 Received: from cowan by mercury.ccil.org with local (Exim 3.12 #1 (Debian)) id 16UFsQ-0006jf-00; Fri, 25 Jan 2002 18:35:22 -0500 Subject: Re: lojban as a programming language [was Re: [lojban] Lojban forlay programmers] In-Reply-To: from And Rosta at "Jan 25, 2002 10:35:51 pm" To: And Rosta Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 18:35:22 -0500 (EST) Cc: lojban@yahoogroups.com X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL66 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: X-eGroups-From: John Cowan From: John Cowan X-Yahoo-Group-Post: member; u=212516 X-Yahoo-Profile: johnwcowan And Rosta scripsit: > That is a very engaging apophthegm. I wonder if every > language has an ideal domain of use... # From: Karl Van Ausdal # To: [Linguist List] # Date: Wed, 27 Nov 1991 15:48 EDT # # According to the *Oxford Dictionary of Quotations*, 2nd and 3rd eds., the # quotation "I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and # German to my horse," has been attributed to Emperor Charles V, 1550-1558 # (King Charles I of Spain). ("Je parle espagnol a Dieu, italien aux femmes, # francais aus hommes et allemand a mon cheval.") # # Bartlett's *Familiar Quotations*, 14th and 15th eds., attributes the same # statement to Charles V (Charles the Wise) of France, 1337-1380. # # H.L. Mencken, in his *A New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical # Principles*, cites a related Spanish proverb: "Spanish is the language for # lovers, Italian for singers, French for diplomats, German for horses, and # English for geese." He does not provide a source. On another mailing list I frequent, someone said that it's characteristic that the "notoriously vague" language French was for centuries preferred for diplomacy. -- John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan cowan@ccil.org Please leave your values | Check your assumptions. In fact, at the front desk. | check your assumptions at the door. --sign in Paris hotel | --Miles Vorkosigan