"Two if by sea"
Marcelo
Could anyone tell me the meaning of this phrase?
"Two if by sea"
Thanks in advanced,
Marcelo
mar...@wwdg.com
mnar...@geocities.com
============================================
It's not the opresion of the bad that hurts,
it's the silence of the good.
============================================
John
In article <5f2f7u$17...@ausnews.austin.ibm.com>, mar...@wwdg.com (Marcelo)
wrote:
> Could anyone tell me the meaning of this phrase?
>
> "Two if by sea"
Well, it comes from the start American Revolution, when the American
revolutionaries were preparing for the British attack. The British could
have attacked by land or by sea, so the Americans adopted a signal
consisting of the number of lamps hung in the church tower (I believe this
was the Old North Church in Boston). One if by land, two if by sea. I
don't know if it has any other use. Where did you hear it?
Earle Jones
>Could anyone tell me the meaning of this phrase?
>
> "Two if by sea"
>
=========
Other responses to this thread have by now explained the source of this
expression.
I would like to touch on the efficiency of the use of this algorithm:
One if by land; two if by sea.
It would be more efficient to use this:
None if by land; one if by sea.
The zero/one binary choice used by computers for the past 50 years attests
to the efficiency. Using *one/two* is redundant when *zero/one* will
suffice.
earle
=====
I know, I know, one can introduce reliability through redundancy -- yes,
yes and all that crap!
ej.
==
__
__/\_\
/\_\/_/
\/_/\_\ earle
\/_/ jones
Martin A. Mazur
In article <5f2f7u$17...@ausnews.austin.ibm.com>,
mar...@wwdg.com (Marcelo) wrote:
>Could anyone tell me the meaning of this phrase?
>
> "Two if by sea"
>
>Marcelo
>mar...@wwdg.com
>mnar...@geocities.com
>============================================
>It's not the opresion of the bad that hurts,
>it's the silence of the good.
>============================================
>
of Independence. The patriots got word that the British were going to attempt
to pre-empt any American patriot trouble-making by closing down their militias
near Boston. The British goal was to seize the colonist's military stores at
Concord, a town near Boston. Concord could be reached by a land route from
Boston, which involved traversing a very narrow neck of land (Boston's Back
Bay had not yet been reclaimed from the Charles River), or "by sea", i.e. by
travelling some distance up the Charles River from Boston Harbor, disembarking
and carrying forward from there. As I said, the patriots got word of the plan
to take the Concord munitions depot, but not of the route. To warn the
patriots of the route when it became known, a signal would be given: one
lantern hung from the steeple of the North Church in Boston if the British
were coming by land, two if by sea. The British came by sea. Paul Revere, a
Boston silversmith, was part of the communication system that warned patriots
of the approach route. He rode from town to town summoning the militia. The
"shot heard 'round the world" was fired in Lexington, Massachusetts on April
19, 1775 (but no one knows which side fired it). The militia harassed the
British along the route to Concord. There, the British found that the military
stores had been hidden or destroyed already. They were forced to withdraw from
Concord and were severely harassed on their trip back to Boston. The British
casualties outnumbered those off the Americans by 3 to 1. The Battle of
Lexington and Concord began the Revolution, established guerilla warfare as
the American's best defensive strategy early in the war, and roused the
patriotic fervor of Americans throughout the colonies.
--
Martin A. Mazur .................... Representing only himself
http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/m/x/mxm14/
"Subjectivism is the epistemology of savages." - Leonard Peikoff
Jonathan Mason
mar...@wwdg.com (Marcelo) wrote:
>Could anyone tell me the meaning of this phrase?
>
> "Two if by sea"
>
Travel agent: "How many will be traveling in your party?"
Prospective tourist: "Three if we can fly there".
Travel agent: "And what, pray, if you cannot fly?"
Prospective tourist: "Two if by sea."
Martin A. Mazur
In article <ejones-ya0235800...@206.15.64.37>,
ejo...@hooked.net (Earle Jones) wrote:
>In article <5f2f7u$17...@ausnews.austin.ibm.com>, mar...@wwdg.com wrote:
>
>>Could anyone tell me the meaning of this phrase?
>>
>> "Two if by sea"
>>
>Other responses to this thread have by now explained the source of this
>expression.
>
>I would like to touch on the efficiency of the use of this algorithm:
>
>One if by land; two if by sea.
>
>It would be more efficient to use this:
>
>None if by land; one if by sea.
>
>The zero/one binary choice used by computers for the past 50 years attests
>to the efficiency. Using *one/two* is redundant when *zero/one* will
>suffice.
>
patriots were waiting for a signal. The absence of a signal meant "We don't
know yet how they are coming." Under your signalling system, the patriots
could have deployed along the land route only to find that they hadn't waited
long enough for the "two by sea" signal.
SLHinton17
wrote:
> Could anyone tell me the meaning of this phrase?
>
> "Two if by sea"
******************************
In 1775 it was feared that the British were about to attack the arsenal at
Concord, and Paul Revere and Dr. Joseph Warren, both of the Massachusetts
Committee of Safety, worked out a plan to notify those who would try to
repulse such an attack . The signal to start such notification was to be
one or two lanterns hung in the bell-tower of North Church, now Christ
Church, in Boston. On April 18 there was news that such an attack was
about to begin. The lanterns (two, for an approach by sea) and Paul Revere
and William Dawes undertook the famous ride to issue warnings; they were
joined by young Dr. Samuel Prescott. Revere was taken by the British
before reaching Concord, but Prescott eluded capture and reached Concord
with the news. The British were repulsed. The actual phrase you have
quoted is from Longfellow's poem, "Paul Revere's Ride", part of which goes
like this:
"He said to his friend 'If the British march
By land or sea from the town tonight,
Hang a lantern in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,--
One, if by land, and two, if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm.'"
Sam Hinton
La Jolla, CA
Daan Sandee
In article <5f2lu7$q...@r02n01.cac.psu.edu> mx...@psu.edu (Martin A. Mazur) writes:
>In article <5f2f7u$17...@ausnews.austin.ibm.com>,
> mar...@wwdg.com (Marcelo) wrote:
>>Could anyone tell me the meaning of this phrase?
>>
>> "Two if by sea"
(excellent explanation deleted)
>lantern hung from the steeple of the North Church in Boston if the British
>were coming by land, two if by sea. The British came by sea. Paul Revere, a
and from that comes the phrase which every American learns at a very
early age, "one if by land, two if by sea."
>Boston silversmith, was part of the communication system that warned patriots
>of the approach route. He rode from town to town summoning the militia. The
>"shot heard 'round the world" was fired in Lexington, Massachusetts on April
>19, 1775 (but no one knows which side fired it). The militia harassed the
>British along the route to Concord. There, the British found that the military
Not to be picky, but if you read Emerson's lines carefully, it appears
that the shot heard round the world, o'er the bridge that arched the flood,
the flag to April's breeze unfurl'd, was actually fired in Concord. I know
the first shot in the war was fired in Lexington, but that wasn't what
Emerson was talking about. (Hey, I live about four miles from Lexington
Common.)
Incidentally, Revere was captured by the British during his ride.
Daan Sandee
Burlington, MA Use this email address: sandee (at) east . sun . com
Mark C. Mudgett
The phrase is indeed from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's
poem "Paul Revere's Ride". The text of the poem is at
http://www.newciv.org/Constitutions/revere.txt ,
and it tells a tale of the night before the Battle of
Concord, in 1775.
The poem is "historical fiction". The basics of the tale
are essentially true, but many of the details are not
accurate. For instance, Paul Revere did not ride into
Concord at 1:00 AM, he was captured by the British before
reaching Concord.
A fragment from Revere himself on the subject of the signal
is at http://tmpwww.electrum.kth.se/docs/early_net/ch-2-1.3.html
The phrase "One, if by land, and two, if by sea" is the work
of Longfellow, not a historical quotation from Revere.
-M10407
In article <19970227141...@ladder02.news.aol.com>,
SLHinton17 <slhin...@aol.com> wrote:
>In article <5f2f7u$17...@ausnews.austin.ibm.com>, mar...@wwdg.com
>(Marcelo)
>wrote:
>
>> Could anyone tell me the meaning of this phrase?
>>
>> "Two if by sea"
>******************************
>In 1775 it was feared that the British were about to attack the arsenal at
[snip]
> ........ from Longfellow's poem, "Paul Revere's Ride", part of which goes
Mark C. Mudgett
In article <5f45ue$i...@walters.East.Sun.COM>,
Daan Sandee <san...@sun.nospam> wrote:
>In article <5f2lu7$q...@r02n01.cac.psu.edu> mx...@psu.edu (Martin A. Mazur) writes:
>> mar...@wwdg.com (Marcelo) wrote:
>>>Could anyone tell me the meaning of this phrase?
>>> "Two if by sea"
ditto
>
>>lantern hung from the steeple of the North Church in Boston if the British
>>were coming by land, two if by sea. The British came by sea. Paul Revere, a
>
>and from that comes the phrase which every American learns at a very
>early age, "one if by land, two if by sea."
>the first shot in the war was fired in Lexington, but that wasn't what
>Emerson was talking about. (Hey, I live about four miles from Lexington
Longfellow
-M10407
Anandashankar Mazumdar
> =========
> Other responses to this thread have by now explained the source of this
> expression.
>
> I would like to touch on the efficiency of the use of this algorithm:
>
> One if by land; two if by sea.
>
> It would be more efficient to use this:
>
> None if by land; one if by sea.
>
> The zero/one binary choice used by computers for the past 50 years attests
> to the efficiency. Using *one/two* is redundant when *zero/one* will
> suffice.
And how long would Paul Revere have had to wait before he decided
that the signal was "zero"? "Zero" might mean something to a
computer, but when it comes to showing lanterns in the church
tower,
"zero" isn't very useful.
Ananda
-------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Post to Usenet
Jitze Couperus
In article <331efcd0...@nntp.ix.netcom.com>, s.m...@ix.netcom.com
(Polar) wrote:
> On Wed, 26 Feb 1997 17:05:42 -0800, "John"
> <szje...@REMOVEucdavis.edu> wrote:
>
> >In article <5f2f7u$17...@ausnews.austin.ibm.com>, mar...@wwdg.com (Marcelo)
> >wrote:
> >
> >> Could anyone tell me the meaning of this phrase?
> >>
> >> "Two if by sea"
> >
> >Well, it comes from the start American Revolution, when the American...
>
> Ahem! Polar interjection:
>
> This phrase also refers to, uh, elimination of human waste products.
> #1 and #2, as we used to call them, way back when. Except that the
> order is reversed.
An exhaustive search of references would have shown that this phrase
originated with the instructions found on early bottles of motion
sickness pills. In those days, riding all day in the first-class section
of a stage-coach subjected one to great wallowing motions, whereas travelling
by packet-steamer during a nor'easter could be even more trying on
the stability of stomach contents.
Thus the dosage instructions on the bottle - one if by land and two if by sea.
Jitze (Who was once polar, but is now rectangular as a result of
a coordinate transform)
--
If replying - first remove the .spam.filter from my address
Earle Jones
In article <8570519...@dejanews.com>, Anandashankar Mazumdar
<mazu...@dcez.com> wrote:
>In article <ejones-ya0235800...@206.15.64.37>,
> ejo...@hooked.net (Earle Jones) wrote:
==========clipsome==========
>"zero" isn't very useful.
>
>Ananda
>
==========
Well, we can find an occasional use for a zero. Like in that machine
you're sitting in front of.
earle
=====
David E. Barber
In article <ejones-ya0235800...@206.15.64.37>,
Earle Jones <ejo...@hooked.net> wrote:
-None if by land; one if by sea.
-The zero/one binary choice used by computers for the past 50 years attests
-to the efficiency. Using *one/two* is redundant when *zero/one* will
-suffice.
-
-I know, I know, one can introduce reliability through redundancy -- yes,
-yes and all that crap!
Crap? In that increasingly belligerent environment, the possibility of
the message's being delayed or suppressed was substantial.
BILLM...@delphi.com
Quoting ejones from a message in alt.usage.english
>I would like to touch on the efficiency of the use of this algorithm:
>One if by land; two if by sea.
>It would be more efficient to use this:
>None if by land; one if by sea.
>The zero/one binary choice used by computers for the past 50 years
>attests to the efficiency. Using *one/two* is redundant when
>*zero/one* will suffice.
But, Earl, there is the third condition of "no signal yet",
which was no lanterns. Thus, your algorithm fails.
Bill McCray (billm...@delphi.com)
Lexington, KY
Byrnesp
It should be noted that the Revolutionary War (U.S. name) has been the
subject of enough story-telling and myth-making (courtesy of such folk as
the good Parson Weems, romantic poets, and others) that the borders
between fact and fiction have been blurred.
Pat
byr...@aol.com