RE: A Search for Exemplary Sentences

From: Michael Everson (everson@indigo.ie)
Date: Fri Nov 20 1998 - 05:25:33 EST


Ar 22:27 -0800 1998-11-19, scríobh Edward Cherlin:

>My vote for English goes to
>
>"Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this
>continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the
>proposition that all men are created equal."

Oh, no. Far too stuffy. And as if there weren't any mothers there bringing
anything forth either. Tsk.

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."

>I would also like to cast a vote for the Middle English sentence
>
>"A yere yeres full yerne, and yeldes naver like."

You need to write this with YOGHs, do you not?

>Pali: Buddham saranam gacchami. (I go to the Buddha as refuge.)

You can't do this. It has to be given in full:

Buddham saranam gacchami.
Dhammam saranam gacchami.
Sangham saranam gacchami.

But better would be the Famous Last Words of the Buddha:

Handa daani bhikkave, aamayantaami vo: Vayadhamma sankhaara. Appamadena
sampaadethaa.

"Hey, you, monks, I'm talking to you! Things fall apart. Work hard".
(I should check the vowel length if you want this one, Rick.)

>Buddhist Sanskrit: Om mani padme hum. (Om, the jewel in the lotus, hail.)

Or sleet. :-)

>Hindu Sanskrit: Neti, neti.

I'd go for "So'ham" in that case.

--
Michael Everson, Everson Gunn Teoranta ** http://www.indigo.ie/egt
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