Proverbial Warning: Be Not a Greater Fool
Money
A fool and his money are soon parted;
so make sure you get the better parted.
- Anonymous
Labels: Money
posted by Horace Jeffery Hodges @ 8:22 AM
13 comments
Gypsy Scholar
Brainstorming about history, politics, literature, religion, and other topics from a 'gypsy' scholar on a wagon hitched to a star.
Sunday, February 19, 2017
A fool and his money are soon parted;
so make sure you get the better parted.
About Me
- Name: Horace Jeffery Hodges
- Location: Seoul, South Korea
I am a retired professor. I last taught at Ewha Womans University, mostly composition, research writing, and cultural issues, but also the occasional graduate seminar on Gnosticism and Johannine theology and the occasional undergraduate course on European history. My doctorate is in history (U.C. Berkeley), with emphasis on religion and science. My thesis is on John's gospel and Gnosticism. I'm also an award-winning writer, and I recommend my novella, The Bottomless Bottle of Beer, to anyone interested. I'm originally from the Arkansas Ozarks, but my academic career -- funded through doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships (e.g., Fulbright, Naumann, Lady Davis) -- has taken me through Texas, California, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, and Israel and has landed me in Seoul, South Korea. I've also traveled to Mexico, visited much of Europe, including Moscow, and touched down briefly in a few East Asian countries. Hence: "Gypsy Scholar."
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13 Comments:
I am guessing that the money is the better part(ed)?
Yep - you don't want a fool on your hands! But a fool's money . . .
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
HJH,
"so make sure you get the better part" NOT "parted"?
Yes, you are right, of course. I was trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to suggest that when the parting is completed, there are two parted parts - the parted part called "money" and the parted part called "fool."
This is based on the fact that while still unparted, there are nevertheless two significant parts, the fool and his money.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Yes, but ...
In the phrase, "there are two parted parts", the word "parted" is an adjective, which is its proper role.
In the phrase, "so make sure you get the better parted", the word "parted" plays the role of a noun, which is awkward.
Maybe it needs a complete overhaul:
Since a fool and his money are parted soon;
take the better part, not the parted loon.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
I like it.
Literary criticism may be your forté!
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
I like that too :)
Now to turn that into a poem:
Mayhaps your forté be lit-crit,
so turn the page, get on with it!
Hmm . . . from medieval to modern in one step.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Mayhaps your forté be lit-crit,
so turn the page, and get on wit!
Mayhaps your forté be lit-crit,
so turn the page, and get wit it!
Getting there!
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
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