I was startled to find this sentence attributed to Humpty Dumpty in Through the Looking Glass. To be on the safe side, I checked my desktop copy. Nope. An internet search gives it to Hobbes of Calvin &. . .which sounds highly probable, but I'm wondering if anyone knows which specific strip? (I don't find it on this site). Thanks. And. . .I'll probably be combing some collections this evening!
OK, now I have a more difficult one. I'm not really expecting an answer, but I want to make every effort to source this quotation:
" First they came for the verbs, and I said nothing because verbing weirds language. Then they arrival for the nouns, and I speech nothing because I no verbs."
It is repeatedly attributed to a Peter Ellis, who is alleged to have posted it on alt.fan.pratchett, but I don't see a way to search on that site, and can't find a link using any combination of search terms I've been able to come up with.
Use the "search this group" button via Google Groups. It doesn't look like it will get you to the original posting, but it might. http://groups.google.com/group...ett/topics?hl=en&lnk I got some hits just using "ellis verbs"....
For some reason, I'm not able to post a direct link to the page. However--there is a March 30, 2000 post by Mr. Ellis in that group, which uses the piece without attribution. Hm. Wonder if I can track down the exact date the original cartoon was published? In any event, I'm reasonably comfortable that the quotation is now sourced. Thanks!
