Replying to LO25245 --
I've been following this thread with some interest, and have enjoyed each
of the contributions I've read so far. Thank you, Leo and Andrew! My
thoughts turned to the wondrous stuff of nonsense...and also to the power
and magic of speech, the sounds of rhythm and alliteration and rhyme that
resonate so deep within so few nowadays. So, in the interests of sharing,
I'll suggest you read this outloud for yourself...and perhaps someone
else, who may even feel that they understand what you're "saying." (For
some real fun, copy and paste a stanza into the altavista translator ---
translate it into another language and then back again into English and
read the result of that outloud). The author, by the way, was also a
professional mathematician.
----------------
JABBERWOCKY
Lewis Carroll
(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
--------
and this sums up my feelings for me quite well.
regards,
Doc
------------------
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