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Does anyone know?

Does anyone know?

Postby LKSmith » February 4th, 2005, 11:50 pm

Why would commandos lisp at night? I believe it's a C.S. Lewis reference, but I'm unsure. If anyone can confirm this and tell me which book it is so I can read it I would appreciate that.

Thanks!
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Re: Does anyone know?

Postby Leslie » February 4th, 2005, 11:54 pm

It reminds me of Jill lisping in The Last Battle, so as not to be overheard. The sibiliant "s" is the "loudest" sound. "TH" is much quieter. Whether CSL said anything about commandos lisping, I don't know.
"What are you laughing at?"
"At myself. My little puny self," said Phillipa.
--Rumer Godden, In This House of Brede
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re: Does anyone know?

Postby lou lou » March 1st, 2006, 3:33 am

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re: Does anyone know?

Postby carol » March 1st, 2006, 5:56 am

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Re: re: Does anyone know?

Postby Karen » March 1st, 2006, 12:26 pm

It's a security measure, to make sure you know who is friend and who is foe. The reference is Biblical, and is known as a shibboleth:

Judges 12:5-6 The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, "Let me cross over," the men of Gilead asked him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he replied, "No," they said, "All right, say 'Shibboleth.' " He said, "Sibboleth," because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.

Perhaps the most well-known example of this was in WWII when the Americans were fighting the Japanese. Since Japanese people have difficulty pronouncing the letter "l", passwords were usually something like "lollapalooza", which only American soldiers could say correctly.
I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library. -- Jorge Luis Borges
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re: Does anyone know?

Postby Sven » March 1st, 2006, 8:46 pm

Rat! he found breath to whisper, shaking. Are you afraid?
Afraid? murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love.
Afraid! Of Him? O, never, never! And yet -- and yet -- O, Mole, I am afraid!
Then the two animals, crouching to the earth, bowed their heads and did worship.
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Re: re: Does anyone know?

Postby Karen » March 1st, 2006, 9:54 pm

Oops! Thanks for the info, Sven.
I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library. -- Jorge Luis Borges
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Re: re: Does anyone know?

Postby Stanley Anderson » March 1st, 2006, 10:18 pm

…on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a fair green country under a swift sunrise.
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re: Does anyone know?

Postby Lara » March 1st, 2006, 10:24 pm

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re: Does anyone know?

Postby Sven » March 1st, 2006, 10:26 pm

Rat! he found breath to whisper, shaking. Are you afraid?
Afraid? murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love.
Afraid! Of Him? O, never, never! And yet -- and yet -- O, Mole, I am afraid!
Then the two animals, crouching to the earth, bowed their heads and did worship.
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Re: re: Does anyone know?

Postby Karen » March 1st, 2006, 10:42 pm

I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library. -- Jorge Luis Borges
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Re: re: Does anyone know?

Postby Stanley Anderson » March 1st, 2006, 10:46 pm

…on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a fair green country under a swift sunrise.
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Re: re: Does anyone know?

Postby Karen » March 1st, 2006, 11:13 pm

I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library. -- Jorge Luis Borges
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Re: re: Does anyone know?

Postby Stanley Anderson » March 1st, 2006, 11:22 pm

…on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a fair green country under a swift sunrise.
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Re: re: Does anyone know?

Postby Stanley Anderson » March 1st, 2006, 11:27 pm

…on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a fair green country under a swift sunrise.
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