Youch, Spendius! We were just having fun. <sniff>
We can't always be the most clever linguaphiles. Sometimes it's just nice to be on here and let off some steam while not going 'nucking futs' !(sorry)
For sure devvie.I'm no wet blanket.But surely the better they are the more laughs we get and you can learn to do it if you try.Everybody can.It is the full metal jacket literary style-that's all.We expect everybody who does things for us to be pretty good don't we and if we are not making efforts ourselves it is a bit selfish to expect them to do.
And don't forget that a post is just for the record.You never know where the A2K record will end up.It is a sort of time capsule don't you think?
No need to apologise though.Take it in is all I ask and make me laugh.
Quote:And don't forget that a post is just for the record.You never know where the A2K record will end up.It is a sort of time capsule don't you think?
That's right spendius.......for instance, did you know that if one enters "spendius" into Google, the second entry is a listing of all the posts you have made on a2k? There are other spendiuses out there too.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=spendius&btnG=Search
Try clicking on this link, in case you really don't know what Google is.....as you told me once before.
enter "spendius" in the little box.
Oh, I agree with you. I'm just not THAT good at spoonerisms, YET.
WOW!!
My cover is blown.
I'm suprised it took so long.You must be an illiterate lot.
It was sad though to be reminded of cav.So short a time we conversed.
Thanks Lola.Now go get Salammbo and see what unstinting effort can do when applied to literature.
Gee-Francis has probably read it in French.The lacky lud.
devvie:-
Right on.
The trick is in the practice but most of all in the discernment.You have to be prepared to wade through stuff and reject ruthlessly like you do with men.Or presumably so.
Phrase books,dictionaries,thesauruses,cliches,sayings-that sort of thing and then wait for the gold.You know it when you see it.But you have to be able to turn it off otherwise it affects other reading.
Gotcha. Thanks for the tip. I'll try to do better...
The more people read Salammbo the better.
Spendius (I use spendius out of humility) is the son of a Greek rhetorician and a courtesan.That is top class lineage in my book.
I always recommend that ladies skip the last chapter.They usually ignore me but then wish they hadn't.
I shall take that under advisement.
Forgive my ignorance, but why exactly are you suggesting Salammbo?
Quote:I shall take that under advisement.
Forgive my ignorance, but why exactly are you suggesting Salammbo?
Quote:In the period 241-239 BC relations between Carthage and Rome were good: Hanno's land party had the upper hand in Carthage.
The peace treaty after the first war penalized the Carthaginians both militarily and financially. Consequently, the Carthaginians could no longer afford to pay for their mercenaries. The mercenaries, unhappy with delayed payments, rebelled against Carthage joined by Numidian and Libyan subjects. Eventually, they were driven out of Carthage and set up their base at the island of Sardina.
Unable to pay their mercenaries what they were demanding, Carthage faced a "truceless war" led by the runaway Roman slave Spendius and a Libyan named ??? and a throng of foreign soldiers, who stoned anyone attempting to speak against them. The so-called ?'Truceless' or Mercenaries' War of 241-237 B.C. was both an intensely dramatic conflict and one of the most fully recorded episodes in Carthage's history, though many details remain unclear. The saviour of Carthage from its domestic foes, Hamilcar Barca, raised an army of 10,000 Carthaginian citizens, broke the siege of Utica, and with Rome's cooperation finally annihilated the mercenary army. He exploited his victory to make himself and his family the virtual rulers of the city and its growing empire.
The war had taken half the agricultural produce and doubled the tribute of the towns; Utica and Hippo Zarytus, the two cities which refused to join the revolt, were besieged. Eventually Hamilcar Barca . . .
more here
Salammbo was Hamilcar's daughter in Flaubert's novel Salammbo. I don't know if she is a real historical figure or if she's Flaubert's creation. Spendius would know, and Francis. Maybe they'll tell us. Or we may have to buy the book and read it......as spendi insists.
Lola:-
Yes-that's the best thing.
But it is about Flaubert really.The sweat he put in on that is mind-blowing.You get a sense of it from his letters and from witnesses on the edge of it.He sometimes spent a week in the museum over one small detail.I think Mailer tried something similar with Ancient Evenings and it is pretty good but nobody will ever match Flaubert just like nobody will ever match Shakespeare.
On the side-Coronation Street recently copied Madame Bovary's suicide in one of their sad story lines.
I just thought Spendius a wonderful creation.
Lola wrote:Salammbo was Hamilcar's daughter in Flaubert's novel Salammbo. I don't know if she is a real historical figure or if she's Flaubert's creation. Spendius would know, and Francis. Maybe they'll tell us. Or we may have to buy the book and read it......as spendi insists.
She was a real historical figure<I've some sources in French> but an entirely fictitious character, against the authentic historical background.
When are we going to see Spathos against Mendius?
Manith and the Toloch...
I expect we'll see more of the same this afternoon. We still don't know who mr mathos is...he could be an annonymous pub buddy out to seek his revenge against mr spendi......or there's the other possibility. Se'll wee.
