SEASONABLE REFLECTION.

(_By an Old Fogey._)

We are hearing a lot of "the Buffer State";

Faith! it comes to us all--after Forty-eight!

When from gout, and the pretty girls' scorn, we suffer,

We have all arrived at the state of the "Buffer."

* * * * *

"FOR THIS RELIEF--MUCH THANKS." _Shakspeare._--A correspondent in the

_Pall Mall Gazette_ recently complained of the disappearance of "Thank

you," and the substitution of "Thanks" and "Thanks awfully." Why not?

It is but a revival of the ancient Latin form "_gratias_," and surely

plural "Thanks" indicates indefinitely more thankfulness than an

uneffusive, frigid, singular "Thank you," signifying "I thank you."

Let us be Shakspearianly classical, as in the quotation above given,

and say "Much thanks." So again, "I am poor in thanks--but I thank

you." Here the relative value of the plural and the singular in thanks

is well brought out.

* * * * *

Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 105 December 23rd, 1893 · 第 21 / 30 题