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  #1 (permalink)  
Old 30-Jun-2006, 22:37
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Default 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
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Old 01-Jul-2006, 09:12
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Default Re: idiom
It's a quotation from the writer Rudyard Kipling:
East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet
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Old 01-Jul-2006, 09:47
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Default Re: idiom
Quote:
Originally Posted by tdol
It's a quotation from the writer Rudyard Kipling:
East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet
Why is the negative inversion missing?
`
Shouldn't it be? :
"East is East and West is West and never shall the twain meet."
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Old 02-Jul-2006, 07:17
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Default Re: idiom
Poetic licence.
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Old 24-Aug-2006, 04:02
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Default Re: idiom
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tdol View Post
Poetic licence
But doesn't it also imply a different meaning?
`
"...never shall the twain meet." (negative inversion)
"...never the twain shall meet." ("never the twain (but something else) shall meet")
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Old 25-Sep-2006, 10:21
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Default Re: idiom
The wording at the beginning makes it clear what is not meeting what.
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