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Article OUR HOLIDAY JAUNT. ← Page 2 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Our Holiday Jaunt.
beings . Formerly far too little attention was paid in our schools and colleges to the study of foreign languages ; now , let us trust , we are bent on removing this serious defect , and strengthening this patent weak point in our general system of national education . But let none of us suppose that we can travel in foreign parts and rely on
dictionaries , vocabularies , railway guides and books of conversations . All who do so sooner or later inevitably break down , and sometimes when it is most inconvenient for them to do so . And as we may always be taught , even as the schoolmen say " ex converse , " Ave lighted the other day on a good little story of a German ' s confidence in a dictionary which brought him to great grief , and which many of us , all Avho talk to foreigners from books and vade meenms , may well keep in memory
and apply to our OAvn practice . A German , whose English education had been somewhat neglected , obtained an interview with an English lady , who , having recently lost her husband , must ( ashein his single German condition tookfor granted ) be open to new offers , and accordingly opened his business thus :
" High-born madam , since your husband have kicked de bucket—" " Sir , " said the lady , astonished and displeased . " Oh , pardon , madam—nine , ten thousand pardons ! Now I make neAV beginning—quite oder beginning . Madam , since your husband have cut his stick—"
It may be supposed that this did not mend matters , and , reading so much in the lady ' s countenance , the German dreAv out an octavo dictionary , and said , jierspiring Avith shame at having a second time missed fire : " Madam , since your husband have gone to kingdom come . —"
This he said beseechingly ; but the lady was past propitiation this time , and rapidly moved towards the door . Things had now reached a crisis , and , if something were not done quickly the game was up . Now , therefore , taking a last hurried lookathis dictionary , the German flew after the lady , crying out , in a voice of despair :
" Madam , since your husband—your most respected husband—your never-enoff-to-be-worshipped husband—have hopped de twig , —" This was his sheet anchor , and as this also came home , of course the poor man Avas totally Avrecked . It turned out that the dictionary he had used , a Avork of one hundred and fifty years back , had , from mere
German ignorance , given slang translations from Tom BroAvn , L'Estrange , and other jocular Avriters—had put down the verb sterben ( to die ) with the following worshipful series of equivalents : 1 . To kick the bucket ; 2 . To cut one ' s stick ; 3 . To go to kingdom come ; 4 . To hop the tAA ig—to drop off the perch into Davy ' s locker . This Avas the only equivalent he had not been able to introduce .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Our Holiday Jaunt.
beings . Formerly far too little attention was paid in our schools and colleges to the study of foreign languages ; now , let us trust , we are bent on removing this serious defect , and strengthening this patent weak point in our general system of national education . But let none of us suppose that we can travel in foreign parts and rely on
dictionaries , vocabularies , railway guides and books of conversations . All who do so sooner or later inevitably break down , and sometimes when it is most inconvenient for them to do so . And as we may always be taught , even as the schoolmen say " ex converse , " Ave lighted the other day on a good little story of a German ' s confidence in a dictionary which brought him to great grief , and which many of us , all Avho talk to foreigners from books and vade meenms , may well keep in memory
and apply to our OAvn practice . A German , whose English education had been somewhat neglected , obtained an interview with an English lady , who , having recently lost her husband , must ( ashein his single German condition tookfor granted ) be open to new offers , and accordingly opened his business thus :
" High-born madam , since your husband have kicked de bucket—" " Sir , " said the lady , astonished and displeased . " Oh , pardon , madam—nine , ten thousand pardons ! Now I make neAV beginning—quite oder beginning . Madam , since your husband have cut his stick—"
It may be supposed that this did not mend matters , and , reading so much in the lady ' s countenance , the German dreAv out an octavo dictionary , and said , jierspiring Avith shame at having a second time missed fire : " Madam , since your husband have gone to kingdom come . —"
This he said beseechingly ; but the lady was past propitiation this time , and rapidly moved towards the door . Things had now reached a crisis , and , if something were not done quickly the game was up . Now , therefore , taking a last hurried lookathis dictionary , the German flew after the lady , crying out , in a voice of despair :
" Madam , since your husband—your most respected husband—your never-enoff-to-be-worshipped husband—have hopped de twig , —" This was his sheet anchor , and as this also came home , of course the poor man Avas totally Avrecked . It turned out that the dictionary he had used , a Avork of one hundred and fifty years back , had , from mere
German ignorance , given slang translations from Tom BroAvn , L'Estrange , and other jocular Avriters—had put down the verb sterben ( to die ) with the following worshipful series of equivalents : 1 . To kick the bucket ; 2 . To cut one ' s stick ; 3 . To go to kingdom come ; 4 . To hop the tAA ig—to drop off the perch into Davy ' s locker . This Avas the only equivalent he had not been able to introduce .