OT: Does a stitch in time save nine?

That would put it off topic for rec.puzzles.

Then there is the primary rule: "Do not attempt to fix that which is not broke."

Ed

n :-)

"Rich Grise, Plainclothes Hippie" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@doubleclick.net...

Well, since the limitations have run out I can reveal that this is all about how the English Navy went and stuffed those French, Italians and Spanish folks who were pretending to be proper sailors.

See, during stand down and practicing type stuff the rumour was passed about.

'A stitch in time saves nine.'

Which was perceived as being a maintenance maxim. You can't go splashing about on the high seas without having your sails in good working order for when it comes time to tub the shit out of some of those European pansies.

Anyway that lot had their spies about and picked up on the maxim, not that they would have thought about it themselves, lazy bunch of right handers, and thier poofy Officers thought they would be dead clever by copying the idea.

In the meantime the English Navy, under great secrecy, was just making the tenth stitch really strong....... ;-)

So, whilst all the nancy European sailors were getting really pissed off at their poofy officers making them crawl all over their sails making sure that they were not missing that stitch that would save them nine the English sailors were down the pub enjoying themselves.

It's not as if you had to aim straight in those days now, is it?

DNA

Sigh! Of _course_ that's what it means.

Do you understand "metaphor?"

Yes yes YES! How true.

So...can we say "A stitch before time might be a waste of thread?"

Beat me to it.

Darn.

While we agree that this phenomenon is true (and damned useful) it is not encapsulated in the aphorism under consideration.

Something I often disagree with.

Someone else said it much better than I could, but I forget exactly how she said it. :-) But it went sonething like this

"The reasonable man accepts the world as it is; the unreasonable man always wants to change it. Therefore, all progress depends on unreasonable men."

Or, more euphoniously, "a stitch too soon is a waste of thread". Yes, I like that. Well done.

--
Richard Heathfield
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29/7/1999
http://www.cpax.org.uk
email: rjh at above domain (but drop the www, obviously)

Knot likely.

Phil

--
"Home taping is killing big business profits. We left this side blank 
so you can help." -- Dead Kennedys, written upon the B-side of tapes of
/In God We Trust, Inc./.

I think that was Heinlein.

Regards Ian

It sounds more like George Bernard Shaw.

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." ---- "Reason", George Bernard Shaw

That means I get the banana, the cigar, and the reconditioned 1952 Ford Buick carburettor.

--
Richard Heathfield
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29/7/1999
http://www.cpax.org.uk
email: rjh at above domain (but drop the www, obviously)

Niche in time saves stein.

(Can't remember what crime Stein had committed. Most likely something like murdering his own grandfather, who was the inventor of the time machine in the first place).

George

Perfect. I plan to use it.

What...no gold ring?

Richard Heathfield:

Spoiler....

35 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

George Weinberg:

*A* niche in time saves Stein.

Naah, it was something ordinary, I think a bank robbery. The way the time machine came into it was that he jumped into the future in order to bypass the statute of limitations.

The story is "A Loint of Paw".

--
Mark Brader  |  "Must undefined behavior obey *all* the laws of physics,
msb@vex.net  |   or is the restriction limited to time travel?"
Toronto      |                                           --Heather Downs

... snip ...

Which I assume is original equipment in your Studebaker.

--
 Some informative links:

Can't join in. I no longer have my collection of F&SF.

--
 Some informative links:

It's also the creepiest thing I've ever seen come out of "Disney".

Thanks, Rich