Don Quixote
question
expressions that remain with us
Gregory
Apr 26, 2012 04:06AM
Hi, everyone...
I have been re-reading Don Quixote and I noticed in the margins and on certain dog-eared pages of my Modern Library edition that, when I had read it many years ago, I had commented on certain expressions used by Cervantes. Now, one of the reasons I have been re-reading this book is that I was fairly certain that the expression "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition" was originally written by Cervantes in a scene where Quixote, his niece, the barber and the curate were battling some imaginary monsters or some soldiers or something, and that the barber, in a response to the Padre, I believe, makes that statement in response to an argument put forth by the curate about Christianity and war, but I am not certain. In my current reading of "Don Quixote", I just came upon another such expression "sure as a gun". When I googled that phrase, I saw that it was also used by Shakespeare, in "All's Well That Ends Well". Now, both works were published in 1605... I wonder who actually used this expression first - Cervantes or Shakespeare? And, I wonder if anyone might know about the phrase, "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition", and where it originated...
I have been re-reading Don Quixote and I noticed in the margins and on certain dog-eared pages of my Modern Library edition that, when I had read it many years ago, I had commented on certain expressions used by Cervantes. Now, one of the reasons I have been re-reading this book is that I was fairly certain that the expression "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition" was originally written by Cervantes in a scene where Quixote, his niece, the barber and the curate were battling some imaginary monsters or some soldiers or something, and that the barber, in a response to the Padre, I believe, makes that statement in response to an argument put forth by the curate about Christianity and war, but I am not certain. In my current reading of "Don Quixote", I just came upon another such expression "sure as a gun". When I googled that phrase, I saw that it was also used by Shakespeare, in "All's Well That Ends Well". Now, both works were published in 1605... I wonder who actually used this expression first - Cervantes or Shakespeare? And, I wonder if anyone might know about the phrase, "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition", and where it originated...
Hi Greg, there are so many different English translations of the great Man of La Mancha going all the way back to the early 17th century. They are all very distinctive and of course the language in each are very much reflections of their own times.
I'm not sure exactly which book number you are referring to or which translation, but presumably whoever it was had read Shakespeare. Sorry, not much help I know.
I'm not sure exactly which book number you are referring to or which translation, but presumably whoever it was had read Shakespeare. Sorry, not much help I know.
At the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 Dec. 1941,
Sunday morning, a Navy Chaplain was starting his sermon when a Japanese fighter-bomber zoomed overhead, sdpraying bullets, & scattering everything. The Chaplain, seeing that a machine gunner had been hit, grabbed the gun and began to fire at the attacking airplanes, saying "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition."
It is possible that the Chaplain was quoting Cervantes, or someone else who had said it first, but the phrase did seem appropriate to the occasion.
Sunday morning, a Navy Chaplain was starting his sermon when a Japanese fighter-bomber zoomed overhead, sdpraying bullets, & scattering everything. The Chaplain, seeing that a machine gunner had been hit, grabbed the gun and began to fire at the attacking airplanes, saying "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition."
It is possible that the Chaplain was quoting Cervantes, or someone else who had said it first, but the phrase did seem appropriate to the occasion.
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Apr 30, 2012 06:53AM · flag