reiher@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU (08/03/85)
From: Peter Reiher <reiher@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU> >Does anyone know where "I >tell you once, I tell you twice, what I tell you three times is >true" is from? '"Just the place for a Snark!", the Bellman cried, As he landed his crew with care, Supporting each man at the top of the tide By a finger entwined in his hair. "Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice, That alone should encourage the crew. Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice. What I tell you three times is true."' Lewis Carroll, "The Hunting of the Snark" The phrase occurs several times in the poem, including one point at which a butcher and a beaver debate whether a wild cry in the wilderness is the voice of the JubJub, the butcher using as proof three repetitions of his opinion. They are somewhat hampered by the beaver's inability to count to three, but the butcher uses a complex series of calculations to prove that he really did assert that it was the voice of the JubJub three times. "The Hunting of the Snark" is short and well worth reading. It also includes the frequently used phrase, "He will softly and silently vanish away/And never be met with again." Of all of Carroll's non-Alice works, I think this poem is the most satisfying. Peter Reiher
freeman@spar.UUCP (Jay Freeman) (08/04/85)
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>What I tell you three times is true."'
It's a lie! It's a lie! It's a lie!
--
Jay Reynolds Freeman (Schlumberger Palo Alto Research)(canonical disclaimer)