Re: Gnomic aorist in English?

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Wed Apr 30 1997 - 13:53:53 EDT


At 11:06 AM -0500 4/30/97, Jonathan Robie wrote:
>Is this a gnomic aorist?
>
>"Curiosity killed the cat."

Depends on how many lives the cat has. Sort of like "Pop goes the weasel!"
(or perhaps it should best be called a "hysterical present"?)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/



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