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Thread: idiom
- 30-Jun-2006, 22:37 #1
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idiom I need information of the history, meaning and application of the ff:
"East is east n west is west n the twain will never meet" (something like this) 2nd posting
- 01-Jul-2006, 09:12 #2
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Teacher Re: idiom It's a quotation from the writer Rudyard Kipling:
East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet
- 01-Jul-2006, 09:47 #3
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Re: idiom Why is the negative inversion missing?
Originally Posted by tdol
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Shouldn't it be? :
"East is East and West is West and never shall the twain meet."
- 02-Jul-2006, 07:17 #4
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Teacher Re: idiom Poetic licence.
- 24-Aug-2006, 04:02 #5
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Re: idiom But doesn't it also imply a different meaning? Originally Posted by Tdol 
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"...never shall the twain meet." (negative inversion)
"...never the twain shall meet." ("never the twain (but something else) shall meet")
- 25-Sep-2006, 10:21 #6
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Teacher Re: idiom The wording at the beginning makes it clear what is not meeting what.
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