Posted by Forrest Brownell on August 14, 1997 at 02:15:02:
In Reply to: Re: Sot Weed and Grog (OR Re: Cold Comfort) posted by Ian on Patience on August 14, 1997 at 01:23:55:
'Life', as the poet Abraham Cowley noted in a letter to Dr Scarborough, 'is an
incurable disease.' If sot weed, rum and buttered eggs make the interval between
swaddling clothes and winding-sheet more enjoyable, and the inevitable decline
more bearable, why then I say smoke, drink and eat to repletion.
Or, as a former (US) Marine sergeant once phrased essentially the same
sentiment, 'Come on, you ********! You don' wanna live forever, do you?' As luck
would have it, most of us did , in fact, but the tally went against us anyway --
and, as it wasn't a supervised plebiscite and there wasn't time for a recount,
the sergeant's motion was carried without further discussion.
Forrest (hard aground on an ebbing tide)