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Donna Richoux
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 4:45 pm
Post subject: Re: To err is human... |
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Arcadian Rises <Arcadianrises@aol.com> wrote:
| Quote: | paul...@coldmail.com wrote:
I would have said:
"To err is human; to be mauled by Spyware is criminal".
That is, a semi-colon in place of the first comma and no second
comma.
I prefer comma to the semi-colon in order to keep the flavor of the
original: "Errare humanum est, perseverare diabolicum".
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Wouldn't that mean something like, to persevere is diabolical? I never
heard that.
Why, yes, the Oxford Dict. of English Proverbs gives a number of
variations of that, and doesn't give anything with "forgive" until
Alexander Pope, 1711. Some examples:
1539 it is naturaly tyue to al men to erre, but to no man to perseuer
.... therin.
1576 Errare humanum est; in errore perseverare, belluinum.
1578 To offend is humaine, to repent diuine, and to perseuere diuelish.
1596 To erre is proper then to Men, but brutish to persist.
Some give only the "err is human" part. Interesting that the
"persevere/diabolical/brutish" one disappears after Pope.
--
Best -- Donna Richoux
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Matti Lamprhey
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 4:50 pm
Post subject: Re: To err is human... |
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"Arcadian Rises" <Arcadianrises@aol.com> wrote...
| Quote: | paul...@coldmail.com wrote:
I would have said:
"To err is human; to be mauled by Spyware is criminal".
That is, a semi-colon in place of the first comma and no second
comma.
I prefer comma to the semi-colon in order to keep the flavor of the
original: "Errare humanum est, perseverare diabolicum".
I believe many other takeoffs keep the original punctuation, e.g. "To
err is human, to forgive is devine".
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But the original is more commonly written:
"To err is human: to forgive, divine."
Well, it is by me any way.
Matti |
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John Ings
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 7:56 pm
Post subject: Re: To err is human... |
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To err is human; to purr, feline.
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Adrian Bailey
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 8:06 pm
Post subject: Re: To err is human... |
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"Steffen Buehler" <steffen.buehler@mailinator.com> wrote in message
news:cta502$j4h$1@euler.space.net...
| Quote: | Adrian Bailey wrote:
To err is, human.
This sentence contains two erors.
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rec.puzzles is over that way, mate. :-)
btw, what you've quoted isn't a sentence, it's a sig.
Cheers,
Adrian |
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Arcadian Rises
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 8:12 pm
Post subject: Re: To err is human... |
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Donna Richoux wrote:
| Quote: | Arcadian Rises <Arcadianrises@aol.com> wrote:
paul...@coldmail.com wrote:
I would have said:
"To err is human; to be mauled by Spyware is criminal".
That is, a semi-colon in place of the first comma and no second
comma.
I prefer comma to the semi-colon in order to keep the flavor of the
original: "Errare humanum est, perseverare diabolicum".
Wouldn't that mean something like, to persevere is diabolical? I
never
heard that.
|
An approximate translation: to err is human, but to persevere [in
erring]is diabolical. That's why I prefer the comma to the semi-colon
after "human".
| Quote: |
Why, yes, the Oxford Dict. of English Proverbs gives a number of
variations of that, and doesn't give anything with "forgive" until
Alexander Pope, 1711. Some examples:
1539 it is naturaly tyue to al men to erre, but to no man to perseuer
... therin.
1576 Errare humanum est; in errore perseverare, belluinum.
1578 To offend is humaine, to repent diuine, and to perseuere
diuelish.
1596 To erre is proper then to Men, but brutish to persist.
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Long before those old English Proverbs we find "to err is human..."
with variations at the Old Greeks, e.g. Antigona of Sophocles.
Then the Romans: Cicero in his 12th Philippica against Antonius:
"Cuiusvis hominis est errare. Nullius nisi insipientis, in errare
perseverare" (approx: it can happen to any human to err. But only a
fool (mad man) perseveres in erring)
in "Controversiae (IV;3) by Seneca: Humanum est errare...etc
| Quote: |
Some give only the "err is human" part. Interesting that the
"persevere/diabolical/brutish" one disappears after Pope.
--
Best -- Donna Richoux |
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Bob Cunningham
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 8:14 pm
Post subject: Re: To err is human... |
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On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 10:45:25 +0100, trio@euronet.nl (Donna
Richoux) said:
| Quote: | Arcadian Rises <Arcadianrises@aol.com> wrote:
paul...@coldmail.com wrote:
I would have said:
"To err is human; to be mauled by Spyware is criminal".
That is, a semi-colon in place of the first comma and no second
comma.
I prefer comma to the semi-colon in order to keep the flavor of the
original: "Errare humanum est, perseverare diabolicum".
Wouldn't that mean something like, to persevere is diabolical? I never
heard that.
Why, yes, the Oxford Dict. of English Proverbs gives a number of
variations of that, and doesn't give anything with "forgive" until
Alexander Pope, 1711. Some examples:
1539 it is naturaly tyue to al men to erre, but to no man to perseuer
... therin.
1576 Errare humanum est; in errore perseverare, belluinum.
1578 To offend is humaine, to repent diuine, and to perseuere diuelish.
1596 To erre is proper then to Men, but brutish to persist.
Some give only the "err is human" part. Interesting that the
"persevere/diabolical/brutish" one disappears after Pope.
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Then there is the programmer's saw of yesteryear,
To err is human, but to really screw things up you need
a computer
? |
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Charles Riggs
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 8:36 pm
Post subject: Re: To err is human... |
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On 26 Jan 2005 18:33:52 -0800, "Arcadian Rises"
<Arcadianrises@aol.com> wrote:
| Quote: |
paul...@coldmail.com wrote:
I would have said:
"To err is human; to be mauled by Spyware is criminal".
That is, a semi-colon in place of the first comma and no second
comma.
I prefer comma to the semi-colon in order to keep the flavor of the
original: "Errare humanum est, perseverare diabolicum".
I believe many other takeoffs keep the original punctuation, e.g. "To
err is human, to forgive is divine".
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For sure, and a sentence everyone will interpret in exactly the same
way as the ugly "To err is human; to forgive is divine".
A poet would write the first, a librarian the second. Sorry, Alec and
Don, but that's how it is.
--
Charles Riggs |
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Charles Riggs
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 8:36 pm
Post subject: Re: To err is human... |
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On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 08:24:49 +0100, Steffen Buehler
<steffen.buehler@mailinator.com> wrote:
| Quote: | Adrian Bailey wrote:
To err is, human.
This sentence contains two erors.
|
That took a minute (1), but I like those. Raymond Smullyan did too.
'Minute' in this context does not mean 60 seconds, Coop. It is one of
those phrases that has much flexibility in meaning. To give you
another example that will be more up your alley, if you say, 'Can I
take a minute of your time to interest you in a vacuum cleaner?', the
housewife at the door will understand you're asking for a considerably
greater slice of her day than a minute.
--
Charles Riggs |
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Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 8:41 pm
Post subject: Re: To err is human... |
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On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 09:50:22 -0000, "Matti Lamprhey"
<matti@official-totally-reversed.com> wrote:
| Quote: | But the original is more commonly written:
"To err is human: to forgive, divine."
Well, it is by me any way.
Matti
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Is that a colon after "human"?
Why a colon?
And the comma after "forgive"?
To show an oral pause?
In place of "is"?
--
paulo |
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Bob Cunningham
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 9:23 pm
Post subject: Re: To err is human... |
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On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 13:14:20 GMT, Bob Cunningham
<exw6sxq@earthlink.net> said:
[...]
| Quote: | Then there is the programmer's saw of yesteryear,
To err is human, but to really screw things up you need
a computer
?
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Ignore question mark: It was an edit-o. |
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R H Draney
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 9:34 pm
Post subject: Re: To err is human... |
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Steffen Buehler filted:
| Quote: |
Adrian Bailey wrote:
To err is, human.
This sentence contains two erors.
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2RSU, man....r |
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Don Phillipson
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 9:50 pm
Post subject: Re: To err is human... |
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<paulo_v@coldmail.com> wrote in message
news:1106787977.a08e10b4783b79f03c4d985bd4d81b4f@teranews...
| Quote: | "To err is human, to be mauled by Spyware is, criminal".
I came across this phrase on a Windows Experts website today.
. . .
I can't get my head around the punctuation used  (
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PW is right that the punctuation is wrong: but
the sentence's main defect is lack of clarity. It
fails to specify whether the criminal is the erring user
or the author of the spyware.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada) |
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Matti Lamprhey
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 9:53 pm
Post subject: Re: To err is human... |
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<paulo_v@coldmail.com> wrote...
| Quote: | "Matti Lamprhey" <matti@official-totally-reversed.com> wrote:
"To err is human: to forgive, divine."
Is that a colon after "human"?
Why a colon?
|
A colon indicates that what follows elaborates what precedes it.
Ref: Penguin Guide to Punctuation, by Larry Trask.
| Quote: | And the comma after "forgive"?
To show an oral pause?
In place of "is"?
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I think that both of your suggestions have merit in this example; the
hint of an oral pause is the more important for me, however.
Matti |
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Alan Jones
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 10:43 pm
Post subject: Re: To err is human... |
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"Matti Lamprhey" <matti@official-totally-reversed.com> wrote in message
news:35sdnaF4oj1caU1@individual.net...
| Quote: | paulo_v@coldmail.com> wrote...
"Matti Lamprhey" <matti@official-totally-reversed.com> wrote:
"To err is human: to forgive, divine."
Is that a colon after "human"?
Why a colon?
A colon indicates that what follows elaborates what precedes it.
Ref: Penguin Guide to Punctuation, by Larry Trask.
And the comma after "forgive"?
To show an oral pause?
In place of "is"?
I think that both of your suggestions have merit in this example; the
hint of an oral pause is the more important for me, however.
|
The colon is chosen to indicate the parallelism of the two clauses - one of
that mark's distinctive uses. I feel pretty sure that the comma marks the
omission of "is". The sentence originally quoted by Paulo should therefore
read "To err is human: to be mauled by Spyware, criminal".
Alan Jones |
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Skitt
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2005 1:08 am
Post subject: Re: To err is human... |
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Matti Lamprhey wrote:
| Quote: | "Arcadian Rises" wrote...
paul...@coldmail.com wrote:
I would have said:
"To err is human; to be mauled by Spyware is criminal".
That is, a semi-colon in place of the first comma and no second
comma.
I prefer comma to the semi-colon in order to keep the flavor of the
original: "Errare humanum est, perseverare diabolicum".
I believe many other takeoffs keep the original punctuation, e.g. "To
err is human, to forgive is devine".
But the original is more commonly written:
"To err is human: to forgive, divine."
Well, it is by me any way.
|
That does not make any punctuation sense to me at all.
--
Skitt (in Hayward, California)
www.geocities.com/opus731/ |
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