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Re: The word "dense" as in "stupidity".

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GordonD

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Mar 16, 2017, 10:26:17 AM3/16/17
to
On 13/03/2017 16:54, Cheryl wrote:
> On 2017-03-13 2:07 PM, Lanarcam wrote:
>> Le 13/03/2017 à 17:17, Cheryl a écrit :
>>> On 2017-03-13 1:07 PM, Peter Moylan wrote:
>>>> On 2017-Mar-13 11:35, Paul Wolff wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> My daughter came back from a school trip to the Isle of Wight
>>>>> with a souvenir glass lighthouse-shaped object for me, packed
>>>>> with differently coloured sands from Thingummy Bay, in
>>>>> artfully arranged layers. On the whole, Nature doesn't work
>>>>> like that.
>>>>
>>>> Education is based on simplifications. Your daughter really
>>>> needs to be taught that - science is based on looking at
>>>> facts; - superstition is based on looking at non-facts; - a
>>>> single sample does not prove anything. It has to be combined
>>>> with samples that are not from the Isle of Wight. Unless, of
>>>> course, one wishes to prove that the Isle of Wight is different
>>>> from the rest of the universe.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Superstitions are based on facts. It's just that they haven't
>>> actually been tested in the way scientific theories have been.
>>>
>> What do you call "superstitions"?
>
> Black cats are bad luck.

No, they're *good* luck.

(They're neither, of course, but in the UK the superstition is that a
black cat crossing your path is a good thing. Which shows that both the
UK and US viewpoints are utter nonsense.)

--
Gordon Davie
Edinburgh, Scotland

Quinn C

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Mar 16, 2017, 1:35:04 PM3/16/17
to
* GordonD:
I've always heard it with the direction being important. A black
cat crossing from the left is bad luck, from the right is good
luck.

--
In the old days, the complaints about the passing of the
golden age were much more sophisticated.
-- James Hogg in alt.usage.english

Peter T. Daniels

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Mar 16, 2017, 2:04:28 PM3/16/17
to
On Thursday, March 16, 2017 at 1:35:04 PM UTC-4, Quinn C wrote:
> * GordonD:

> > (They're neither, of course, but in the UK the superstition is that a
> > black cat crossing your path is a good thing. Which shows that both the
> > UK and US viewpoints are utter nonsense.)
>
> I've always heard it with the direction being important. A black
> cat crossing from the left is bad luck, from the right is good
> luck.

That must be the Mid-Atlantic version (in the Alistair Cooke, not the Delaware, sense).

Cheryl

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Mar 16, 2017, 2:46:34 PM3/16/17
to
That version is new to me, and I thought I knew a lot of the cat-related
superstitions.

One of my cats is black (as was an earlier one), and I'm sure she's
responsible for a lot of my bad luck, particularly bad luck related to
my apartment often being mysteriously messy with, for example, cat food
scattered across the floor.

The calico cat is much less connected to messy floors. She doesn't
scatter cat food and although she's a bit prone to produce hairballs,
she usually does so on my bed. Perhaps there's a superstition that
calico cats are connected to wet messy beds?

--
Cheryl

Peter Duncanson [BrE]

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Mar 16, 2017, 3:40:20 PM3/16/17
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So if a cat is approaching to cross your path from the left you should
turn round and walk in the opposite direction so that it is then
crossing your path from the right?

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

RH Draney

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Mar 16, 2017, 3:49:58 PM3/16/17
to
Is that my left or the cat's left?...r

Peter T. Daniels

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Mar 16, 2017, 3:55:26 PM3/16/17
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The cat has two lefts (and two rights).

Paul Wolff

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Mar 16, 2017, 4:41:42 PM3/16/17
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On Thu, 16 Mar 2017, "Peter Duncanson [BrE]" <ma...@peterduncanson.net>
posted:
The difference between the American and the English luck-bringing
properties of black cats is that we drive on the left and they drive on
the right, so that the respective cats cross the driving side and the
oncoming traffic side of the road in the opposite order.

It's really not difficult to understand.
--
Paul

Tony Cooper

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Mar 16, 2017, 4:48:50 PM3/16/17
to
Except, of course, when they are in the dark when all black cats are
alike.

--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

Quinn C

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Mar 16, 2017, 5:32:41 PM3/16/17
to
* Peter Duncanson [BrE]:
I think it has to cross before you, so if you can pass it quickly
and then turn around, you should be good.

--
The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts
agree, is by accident. That's where we come in; we're computer
professionals. We cause accidents.
Nathaniel Borenstein

Athel Cornish-Bowden

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Mar 16, 2017, 6:14:51 PM3/16/17
to
But you might have a dead cat to worry about.


--
athel

HVS

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Mar 16, 2017, 8:12:44 PM3/16/17
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On Thu, 16 Mar 2017 16:48:47 -0400, Tony Cooper
<tonyco...@gmail.com> wrote:

-snip-

> Except, of course, when they are in the dark when all black cats are
> alike.

Because they're squashed flat?

--
Cheers, Harvey
CanE (30 years) & BrE (34 years),
indiscriminately mixed

Peter Moylan

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Mar 16, 2017, 8:22:55 PM3/16/17
to
On 2017-Mar-17 05:46, Cheryl wrote:
> On 2017-03-16 3:05 PM, Quinn C wrote:
>> * GordonD:
>>> On 13/03/2017 16:54, Cheryl wrote:

>>>> Black cats are bad luck.
>>>
>>> No, they're *good* luck.
>>>
>>> (They're neither, of course, but in the UK the superstition is that a
>>> black cat crossing your path is a good thing. Which shows that both the
>>> UK and US viewpoints are utter nonsense.)
>>
>> I've always heard it with the direction being important. A black
>> cat crossing from the left is bad luck, from the right is good
>> luck.
>
> That version is new to me, and I thought I knew a lot of the cat-related
> superstitions.

Perhaps it refers to a cat who is crossing the pond.

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Peter Moylan

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Mar 16, 2017, 8:25:50 PM3/16/17
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It depends on the viewpoint of the photographer.

J. J. Lodder

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Mar 17, 2017, 5:04:28 AM3/17/17
to
Proverbially grey, in Dutch.
'In het donker zijn alle katten grijs'
(in the dark all cats are grey)

Used with two different meanings:
leaving out non-essentials all humans are equal.
and
Lacking adequate information situations cannot be judged adequately.

This differs from the American meaning of the same saying
that any woman will do in bed, in the dark,

Jan



GordonD

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Mar 17, 2017, 8:15:21 AM3/17/17
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Do you also have a gingham dog?

Cheryl

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Mar 17, 2017, 8:18:20 AM3/17/17
to
No dogs, gingham or otherwise, sorry!

One of my sisters has a black dog. I have never heard of black dogs
being bad luck...

--
Cheryl

Peter T. Daniels

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Mar 17, 2017, 9:37:50 AM3/17/17
to
On Friday, March 17, 2017 at 5:04:28 AM UTC-4, J. J. Lodder wrote:
> Tony Cooper <tonyco...@gmail.com> wrote:

> > Except, of course, when they are in the dark when all black cats are
> > alike.

"look alike"

> Proverbially grey, in Dutch.
> 'In het donker zijn alle katten grijs'
> (in the dark all cats are grey)
>
> Used with two different meanings:
> leaving out non-essentials all humans are equal.
> and
> Lacking adequate information situations cannot be judged adequately.
>
> This differs from the American meaning of the same saying
> that any woman will do in bed, in the dark,

Casnova was not American. If you're going to exude hate, please get your
atereotypes right.

Reinhold {Rey} Aman

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Mar 17, 2017, 12:14:41 PM3/17/17
to
Sloppy "editor" PeteY "Genital Herpes" Daniels wrote:
>
> Casnova was not American. If you're going to exude hate,
^^^^^^^
> please get your atereotypes right.
^^^^^^^^^^^
--
~~~ Reinhold {Rey} Aman ~~~

Janet

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Mar 17, 2017, 1:02:27 PM3/17/17
to
In article <ej22ga...@mid.individual.net>, cper...@mun.ca says...
> One of my sisters has a black dog. I have never heard of black dogs
> being bad luck...

Apparently rescue centres here find it much harder to rehome black
dogs and cats.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/pets/why-we-must-stop-rejecting-black-dogs-
and-cats/


Janet.


bill van

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Mar 17, 2017, 3:01:12 PM3/17/17
to
In article <ej22ga...@mid.individual.net>, Cheryl <cper...@mun.ca>
wrote:
Black dogs have been used as metaphors for severe depression, notably by
Winston Churchill. I'll take my chances with the black cat.
--
bill

Cheryl

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Mar 17, 2017, 3:35:20 PM3/17/17
to
What a shame! The black cats I've known have been great pets (barring a
tendency to spill food on the floor, which is not limited to black cats)
and my sister's dog, a rescue, is a real sweetheart with a very friendly
and laid-back temperament. Well, as long as she doesn't spot a
threatening squirrel, at least. That excites her.

They are hard to photograph, though, at least for an amateur.

--
Cheryl

Cheryl

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Mar 17, 2017, 3:37:09 PM3/17/17
to
And I'd forgotten until I read Janet's link that there are superstitions
about black dogs in some parts of the UK, like Black Shuck.

But still, my sister's dog is a very nice animal.

--
Cheryl

Peter Duncanson [BrE]

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Mar 17, 2017, 4:42:19 PM3/17/17
to
On Fri, 17 Mar 2017 12:01:08 -0700, bill van <bil...@delete.shaw.ca>
wrote:

>In article <ej22ga...@mid.individual.net>, Cheryl <cper...@mun.ca>
>wrote:
>
>> On 2017-03-17 9:45 AM, GordonD wrote:
>> > On 16/03/2017 18:46, Cheryl wrote:
>> >> On 2017-03-16 3:05 PM, Quinn C wrote:
>> >>> * GordonD:
>> >>>
>> >>>> On 13/03/2017 16:54, Cheryl wrote:
>> >>>>> On 2017-03-13 2:07 PM, Lanarcam wrote:
>> >>>>>> Le 13/03/2017 ?7:17, Cheryl a ?it :
I'm familar with it from Churchill's use, but it goes back a couple of
centruries before then.

OED:

black dog, n.

2. fig. Melancholy, depression. Cf. to have the (also a) black dog
on one's back (also shoulder) at Phrases.

1776 H. L. Thrale Let. 16 May in Lett. to & from S. Johnson (1788)
I. cli. 331 He scorns the black dog now: he will swing him round
and round soon as Smollet's heroes do.
....

Phrases
"to have the (also a) black dog on one's back (also shoulder)": to
be depressed or in a bad mood.

1790 H. L. Thrale Diary 19 Oct. in Thraliana (1951) II. 785 The
Black Dog is upon his Back; was a common saying some Years ago
when a Man was seen troubled with Melancholy.
1871 Eclectic Mag. June 682/2 He got up and shook himself as if,
like the children, he felt ‘the black dog on his back’, and for
once his mother was glad when he went away.
....

There's no suggestion there that meeting, or having your path crossed
by, a black dog brings bad luck.

Tony Cooper

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Mar 17, 2017, 5:31:31 PM3/17/17
to
On Fri, 17 Mar 2017 12:01:08 -0700, bill van <bil...@delete.shaw.ca>
wrote:

As long as we don't mention Wing Commander Guy Gibson's black
Labrador.

J. J. Lodder

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Mar 17, 2017, 5:53:37 PM3/17/17
to
Black cats are often very intelligent.

> They are hard to photograph, though, at least for an amateur.

Like brides in white,

Jan

Rich Ulrich

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Mar 18, 2017, 3:13:35 AM3/18/17
to
Papa Doc Duvalier decided that his rebellious former aide
had turned himself into a black dog in order to escape.

So Papa Doc ordered his police to kill all black dogs in Haiti.

I wonder if that's related to other ideas of bad luck.

(I looked up Papa Doc in my early days of trying to find
a model for Trump. Papa had a big portrait painted of himself,
seated, with Jesus's hand on his shoulder.)

--
Rich Ulrich

J. J. Lodder

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Mar 18, 2017, 4:37:36 AM3/18/17
to
But Benjamin Franklin was.

>If you're going to exude hate, please get your atereotypes right.

Ah, another American with wounded national pride.
Why don't you do your own research?
I'm not mean though, so I'll do it for you.

Here are the master's words in full:
<https://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/bdorsey1/41docs/51-fra.html>

"And as in the dark all Cats are grey, the Pleasure of corporal
Enjoyment with an old Woman is at least equal, and frequently superior,
every Knack being by Practice capable of Improvement."

He already had the Knack,

Jan




RH Draney

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Mar 18, 2017, 5:16:05 AM3/18/17
to
On 3/18/2017 12:13 AM, Rich Ulrich wrote:
>
> (I looked up Papa Doc in my early days of trying to find
> a model for Trump. Papa had a big portrait painted of himself,
> seated, with Jesus's hand on his shoulder.)

The Trumpian equivalent would be a portrait of Jesus, seated, with the
Donald's hand on his shoulder....r

Peter Duncanson [BrE]

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Mar 18, 2017, 8:23:32 AM3/18/17
to
+1

Will their be any sign of Trump being "wire-tapped"?

Watching Trump and Angela Merkel together yesterday it occurred to me
that to Trump being "wire-tapped" is a sign of importance. The idea that
Merkel was spied on and he wasn't must be a serious blow to his
self-esteem.

Peter T. Daniels

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Mar 18, 2017, 10:03:23 AM3/18/17
to
Maybe the nuances of "will do" eluded you.

What you said is far closer to Casanova's "put a basket over their head
and they're all alike."

James Wilkinson Sword

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Mar 19, 2017, 12:47:40 PM3/19/17
to
Why?

--
Intercourse prevents divorce.

James Wilkinson Sword

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Mar 19, 2017, 12:47:52 PM3/19/17
to
On Thu, 16 Mar 2017 19:40:19 -0000, Peter Duncanson [BrE] <ma...@peterduncanson.net> wrote:

> On Thu, 16 Mar 2017 13:35:01 -0400, Quinn C
> <lispa...@crommatograph.info> wrote:
>
>> * GordonD:
>>
>>> On 13/03/2017 16:54, Cheryl wrote:
>>>> On 2017-03-13 2:07 PM, Lanarcam wrote:
>>>>> Le 13/03/2017 à 17:17, Cheryl a écrit :
>>>>>> On 2017-03-13 1:07 PM, Peter Moylan wrote:
>>>>>>> On 2017-Mar-13 11:35, Paul Wolff wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> My daughter came back from a school trip to the Isle of Wight
>>>>>>>> with a souvenir glass lighthouse-shaped object for me, packed
>>>>>>>> with differently coloured sands from Thingummy Bay, in
>>>>>>>> artfully arranged layers. On the whole, Nature doesn't work
>>>>>>>> like that.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Education is based on simplifications. Your daughter really
>>>>>>> needs to be taught that - science is based on looking at
>>>>>>> facts; - superstition is based on looking at non-facts; - a
>>>>>>> single sample does not prove anything. It has to be combined
>>>>>>> with samples that are not from the Isle of Wight. Unless, of
>>>>>>> course, one wishes to prove that the Isle of Wight is different
>>>>>>> from the rest of the universe.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Superstitions are based on facts. It's just that they haven't
>>>>>> actually been tested in the way scientific theories have been.
>>>>>>
>>>>> What do you call "superstitions"?
>>>>
>>>> Black cats are bad luck.
>>>
>>> No, they're *good* luck.
>>>
>>> (They're neither, of course, but in the UK the superstition is that a
>>> black cat crossing your path is a good thing. Which shows that both the
>>> UK and US viewpoints are utter nonsense.)
>>
>> I've always heard it with the direction being important. A black
>> cat crossing from the left is bad luck, from the right is good
>> luck.
>
> So if a cat is approaching to cross your path from the left you should
> turn round and walk in the opposite direction so that it is then
> crossing your path from the right?

I just run it over.

--
A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm and says, "A beer please, and one for the road."

James Wilkinson Sword

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Mar 19, 2017, 12:48:48 PM3/19/17
to
On Fri, 17 Mar 2017 16:14:40 -0000, Reinhold {Rey} Aman <am...@sonic.net> wrote:

> Sloppy "editor" PeteY "Genital Herpes" Daniels wrote:
>>
>> Casnova was not American. If you're going to exude hate,
> ^^^^^^^
>> please get your atereotypes right.
> ^^^^^^^^^^^

Ultra extreme imbibing reduces accuracy of typing.

--
FREE TIBET!!!! (with purchase of 1 mainland china)

James Wilkinson Sword

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Mar 19, 2017, 12:49:17 PM3/19/17
to
None of my 5 cats like to be in my pond.

--
Bad or missing mouse. Spank the cat [Y/N]?

James Wilkinson Sword

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Mar 19, 2017, 12:50:01 PM3/19/17
to
I tried to buy a cat from a rescue centre and they'd run out!

--
It's been announced that the police are going to be allowed to use water cannons on rioters.
They're putting some Persil washing powder in to stop the coloureds from running.

James Wilkinson Sword

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Mar 19, 2017, 12:50:26 PM3/19/17
to
Why? Do they run faster or something?

--
Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.

James Wilkinson Sword

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Mar 19, 2017, 12:51:01 PM3/19/17
to
On Thu, 16 Mar 2017 14:26:14 -0000, GordonD <g.d...@btinternet.com> wrote:

> On 13/03/2017 16:54, Cheryl wrote:
>> On 2017-03-13 2:07 PM, Lanarcam wrote:
>>> Le 13/03/2017 à 17:17, Cheryl a écrit :
>>>> On 2017-03-13 1:07 PM, Peter Moylan wrote:
>>>>> On 2017-Mar-13 11:35, Paul Wolff wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> My daughter came back from a school trip to the Isle of Wight
>>>>>> with a souvenir glass lighthouse-shaped object for me, packed
>>>>>> with differently coloured sands from Thingummy Bay, in
>>>>>> artfully arranged layers. On the whole, Nature doesn't work
>>>>>> like that.
>>>>>
>>>>> Education is based on simplifications. Your daughter really
>>>>> needs to be taught that - science is based on looking at
>>>>> facts; - superstition is based on looking at non-facts; - a
>>>>> single sample does not prove anything. It has to be combined
>>>>> with samples that are not from the Isle of Wight. Unless, of
>>>>> course, one wishes to prove that the Isle of Wight is different
>>>>> from the rest of the universe.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Superstitions are based on facts. It's just that they haven't
>>>> actually been tested in the way scientific theories have been.
>>>>
>>> What do you call "superstitions"?
>>
>> Black cats are bad luck.
>
> No, they're *good* luck.
>
> (They're neither, of course, but in the UK the superstition is that a
> black cat crossing your path is a good thing. Which shows that both the
> UK and US viewpoints are utter nonsense.)

I'm in the UK and have only heard them being BAD luck. Which I ignore anyway.

Peter T. Daniels

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Mar 19, 2017, 1:27:14 PM3/19/17
to
God's plan for the universe.

J. J. Lodder

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Mar 20, 2017, 6:47:43 AM3/20/17
to
It is you who is being unnuanced about it.

> What you said is far closer to Casanova's "put a basket over their head
> and they're all alike."

Mr Google says: no hits for:
"put a basket over their head and they're all alike."

You are making things up,

Jan

Peter T. Daniels

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Mar 20, 2017, 9:40:50 AM3/20/17
to
Perhaps because M. Casanova said it in French.

> You are making things up,

Nope,

Quinn C

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Mar 20, 2017, 12:06:48 PM3/20/17
to
* Peter T. Daniels:
And no one ever translated it, or if they did, no one put any of
those translation on the Web? Because Casanova is such an obscure
author?

When I looked up the idiom, the first source I found was
<http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/all+cats+are+grey+at+night>,
and the example sentence given is:

| "I can't believe you're going on a date with someone you've
| never met before! What if you don't think he's attractive?" B:
| "Ah, all cats are grey at night, so it will be fine."

And:

| Attributed to Benjamin Franklin, explaining why to take an older
| woman to bed[1], but appears in John Heywood's book of proverbs
| (1546) as 'When all candles be out, all cats be grey.'

<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/all_cats_are_grey_in_the_dark>

--
Some things are taken away from you, some you leave behind-and
some you carry with you, world without end.
-- Robert C. Wilson, Vortex (novel), p.31

Peter T. Daniels

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Mar 20, 2017, 2:25:27 PM3/20/17
to
Who knows what words any particular translator may have used?

James Wilkinson Sword

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Mar 20, 2017, 2:34:05 PM3/20/17
to
Change basket to bag and you get one result.

>> When I looked up the idiom, the first source I found was
>> <http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/all+cats+are+grey+at+night>,
>> and the example sentence given is:
>>
>> | "I can't believe you're going on a date with someone you've
>> | never met before! What if you don't think he's attractive?" B:
>> | "Ah, all cats are grey at night, so it will be fine."
>>
>> And:
>>
>> | Attributed to Benjamin Franklin, explaining why to take an older
>> | woman to bed[1], but appears in John Heywood's book of proverbs
>> | (1546) as 'When all candles be out, all cats be grey.'
>>
>> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/all_cats_are_grey_in_the_dark>
>


--
Impeccable, adjective: something which cannot be destroyed by the beak of a parrot. Scientists have yet to discover such a substance.

James Wilkinson Sword

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Mar 20, 2017, 2:34:37 PM3/20/17
to
What is the original quote in French?

>> When I looked up the idiom, the first source I found was
>> <http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/all+cats+are+grey+at+night>,
>> and the example sentence given is:
>>
>> | "I can't believe you're going on a date with someone you've
>> | never met before! What if you don't think he's attractive?" B:
>> | "Ah, all cats are grey at night, so it will be fine."
>>
>> And:
>>
>> | Attributed to Benjamin Franklin, explaining why to take an older
>> | woman to bed[1], but appears in John Heywood's book of proverbs
>> | (1546) as 'When all candles be out, all cats be grey.'
>>
>> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/all_cats_are_grey_in_the_dark>
>


J. J. Lodder

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Mar 20, 2017, 5:59:23 PM3/20/17
to
James Wilkinson Sword <imv...@somewear.com> wrote:

> On Mon, 20 Mar 2017 18:25:24 -0000, Peter T. Daniels:
My, all of one, and from a distinguished anonymous poster on Yahoo too.

> >> When I looked up the idiom, the first source I found was
> >> <http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/all+cats+are+grey+at+night>,
> >> and the example sentence given is:
> >>
> >> | "I can't believe you're going on a date with someone you've
> >> | never met before! What if you don't think he's attractive?" B:
> >> | "Ah, all cats are grey at night, so it will be fine."
> >>
> >> And:
> >>
> >> | Attributed to Benjamin Franklin, explaining why to take an older
> >> | woman to bed[1], but appears in John Heywood's book of proverbs
> >> | (1546) as 'When all candles be out, all cats be grey.'
> >>
> >> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/all_cats_are_grey_in_the_dark>

Sure, the source for the American usage is Benjamin Franklin.
For some obscure reason PTD thinks that noting this
is an insult to American honour.

No idea why,

Jan

James Wilkinson Sword

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Mar 20, 2017, 6:06:35 PM3/20/17
to
Because PTD is an idiot.

--
Why do niggers always have sex on their minds?
Because they have pubes on their heads.

Peter T. Daniels

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Mar 20, 2017, 11:11:05 PM3/20/17
to
Just _try_ figuring out the difference between the two statements.

GordonD

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Mar 22, 2017, 6:43:31 AM3/22/17
to
On 17/03/2017 12:18, Cheryl wrote:
> On 2017-03-17 9:45 AM, GordonD wrote:
>> On 16/03/2017 18:46, Cheryl wrote:
>>> On 2017-03-16 3:05 PM, Quinn C wrote:
>>>> * GordonD:
>>>>
>>>>> On 13/03/2017 16:54, Cheryl wrote:
>>>>>> On 2017-03-13 2:07 PM, Lanarcam wrote:
>>>>>>> Le 13/03/2017 à 17:17, Cheryl a écrit :
>>>>>>>> On 2017-03-13 1:07 PM, Peter Moylan wrote:
>>>>>>>>> On 2017-Mar-13 11:35, Paul Wolff wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> My daughter came back from a school trip to the Isle of Wight
>>>>>>>>>> with a souvenir glass lighthouse-shaped object for me, packed
>>>>>>>>>> with differently coloured sands from Thingummy Bay, in
>>>>>>>>>> artfully arranged layers. On the whole, Nature doesn't work
>>>>>>>>>> like that.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Education is based on simplifications. Your daughter really
>>>>>>>>> needs to be taught that - science is based on looking at
>>>>>>>>> facts; - superstition is based on looking at non-facts; - a
>>>>>>>>> single sample does not prove anything. It has to be combined
>>>>>>>>> with samples that are not from the Isle of Wight. Unless, of
>>>>>>>>> course, one wishes to prove that the Isle of Wight is different
>>>>>>>>> from the rest of the universe.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Superstitions are based on facts. It's just that they haven't
>>>>>>>> actually been tested in the way scientific theories have been.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> What do you call "superstitions"?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Black cats are bad luck.
>>>>>
>>>>> No, they're *good* luck.
>>>>>
>>>>> (They're neither, of course, but in the UK the superstition is that a
>>>>> black cat crossing your path is a good thing. Which shows that both
>>>>> the
>>>>> UK and US viewpoints are utter nonsense.)
>>>>
>>>> I've always heard it with the direction being important. A black
>>>> cat crossing from the left is bad luck, from the right is good
>>>> luck.
>>>>
>>>
>>> That version is new to me, and I thought I knew a lot of the cat-related
>>> superstitions.
>>>
>>> One of my cats is black (as was an earlier one), and I'm sure she's
>>> responsible for a lot of my bad luck, particularly bad luck related to
>>> my apartment often being mysteriously messy with, for example, cat food
>>> scattered across the floor.
>>>
>>> The calico cat
>>
>> Do you also have a gingham dog?
>
> No dogs, gingham or otherwise, sorry!
>
> One of my sisters has a black dog. I have never heard of black dogs
> being bad luck...
>

The point of my post seems to have escaped everyone.

https://user.xmission.com/~emailbox/gingham.htm
--
Gordon Davie
Edinburgh, Scotland

Quinn C

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Mar 22, 2017, 8:35:17 AM3/22/17
to
* GordonD:
I'm sure it didn't.

As for me, after reading your post, I went looking up whether
there is such a thing as gingham dogs, which immediately brought
up the poem.

Then further, I inquired why the combination with a calico cat, as
I knew that term, but not what calico on its own means (I think I
know gingham from Anne of Green Gables, which I only read after
coming to Canada, but I might have known it before and forgotten
the details).

--
Skyler: Uncle Cosmo ... why do they call this a word processor?
Cosmo: It's simple, Skyler ... you've seen what food processors
do to food, right?
Cartoon by Jeff MacNelley

James Wilkinson Sword

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Mar 22, 2017, 12:18:08 PM3/22/17
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How on earth could an animal have such a man-made pattern?

--
New Zealand Rugby Commentator - "Andrew Mehrtens loves it when Daryl Gibson comes inside of him."

Rich Ulrich

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Mar 22, 2017, 1:24:38 PM3/22/17
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It's a sophisticated construction for a poem.

Here is this poem for children. The animals have to be toys, as
cued by "gingham dog". The image brought forth is the
animated-cartoon version of action.

I'm reminded of the Xena episode where the stories "told" by
several classical story-tellers are represented by old film
sequences taken from sources ranging from Steve Reeves as
the 1950s B&W Hercules to a smooth, Technicolor Spartacus.
(I was impressed.)

--
Rich Ulrich
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