Purist
Well, there is something very queer about it if I do not know a solecism when I hear it.
Well, there is something very queer about it if I do not know a solecism when I hear it.
Lycinus
One begins to doubt, when a man has missed three.
One begins to doubt, when a man has missed three.
Purist
Three? What do you mean?
Three? What do you mean?
Lycinus
A complete triolet of them.
A complete triolet of them.
Purist
You are certainly joking.
You are certainly joking.
Lycinus
And you are as certainly a poor detective.
And you are as certainly a poor detective.
Purist
If you were to say something, one might have a chance.
If you were to say something, one might have a chance.
Lycinus
Four chances you have had, and no result. It would have been a fine feather in your hat to have got them all.
Four chances you have had, and no result. It would have been a fine feather in your hat to have got them all.
Purist
Nothing fine about it; it is no more than I undertook.
Nothing fine about it; it is no more than I undertook.
Lycinus
Why, there you are again!
Why, there you are again!
Purist
Again?
Again?
Lycinus
‘Feather in your hat’?!
‘Feather in your hat’?!
Purist
I don’t know what you mean.
I don’t know what you mean.
Lycinus
Precisely; you do not know. And now suppose you go first; you do not like following, that is what it is; you understand, if you chose.
Precisely; you do not know. And now suppose you go first; you do not like following, that is what it is; you understand, if you chose.
Soleocista. Lucian. Henry Watson Fowler (Translator), Francis George Fowler (Translator). Medford, MA, USA. 2023-08-01.
Sponsored by Tufts University.
Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.