Slab-sided is a favourite term of Patrick O' Brian, mercurial author of the Aubrey/Maturin series. He employs it regularly to describe an obstinate, slow-witted sailor or an unwieldy and cumbersome vessel.
Stephen Maturin on tobacco:'For me tobacco is the crown of the meal, the best opening to a day, a great enhancer of the quality of life. The crackle and yield of this little paper cylinder,' he said, holding it up, 'gives me a sensual pleasure whose deeper origins I blush to contemplate, while the slow combustion of the whole yields a gratification that I should not readily abandon even if it did me harm, which it does not. Far from it. On the contrary, tobacco purges the mind of its gross humors, sharpens the wits, renders the judicious smoker sprightly and vivacious. And soon I shall need all my sprightliness and vivacity.'
- Stephen Maturin, in Patrick O'Brian's "The Ionian Mission"
Comments by testudoaubreii
testudoaubreii commented on the word slab-sided
Slab-sided is a favourite term of Patrick O' Brian, mercurial author of the Aubrey/Maturin series. He employs it regularly to describe an obstinate, slow-witted sailor or an unwieldy and cumbersome vessel.
December 7, 2008
testudoaubreii commented on the word tobacco
Stephen Maturin on tobacco:'For me tobacco is the crown of the meal, the best opening to a day, a great enhancer of the quality of life. The crackle and yield of this little paper cylinder,' he said, holding it up, 'gives me a sensual pleasure whose deeper origins I blush to contemplate, while the slow combustion of the whole yields a gratification that I should not readily abandon even if it did me harm, which it does not. Far from it. On the contrary, tobacco purges the mind of its gross humors, sharpens the wits, renders the judicious smoker sprightly and vivacious. And soon I shall need all my sprightliness and vivacity.'
- Stephen Maturin, in Patrick O'Brian's "The Ionian Mission"
December 7, 2008
testudoaubreii commented on the word cogit amare jecur
"The liver knows how to love"
December 7, 2008
testudoaubreii commented on the word il faut que le prêtre vive de l'autel
"Every altar must keep it's own priest"
December 7, 2008
testudoaubreii commented on the word foeda est in coitu et brevis voluptas
translation: "There is a dirtiness in copulation, and only a quick pleasure" from Petronius, translated by Ben Jonson as
"Doing a filthy pleasure is, and short,
And done, we straight repent us of the sport".
December 7, 2008