[lit-ideas] The Goldfish That Was Red
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 10:44:39 EDT
In a message dated 7/26/2004 9:52:00 PM Eastern Standard Time,
atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
I wonder if you can put blind goldfish in a goldfish bowl?
_Leo Lionni_ (http://www.allenglishbooks.de/shop/waren163.htm)
... Menge. A colour of his own Parrots are green, goldfish are red,
elephants are grey,
pigs are pink. All animals have a colour of their own-except for chameleons.
...
www.allenglishbooks.de/shop/waren163.htm - 29k - _Cached_
(http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:UT7Q6y4K_BcJ:www.allenglishbooks.de/shop/waren163.htm+"gold
fish+are+red"+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8) - _Similar pages_
(http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=related:www.allenglishbooks.de/shop/waren163.htm)
I hope you know, incidentally, that you have identified another 'misnomer'
-- not 'blind goldfish', but 'goldfish' simpliciter. Why people keep using the
expression is a tribute to the Romans, I suppose -- since their name for the
animal (first found in the Sea of China) was: cyprinus auratus.
Cheers,
JL
----
From the OED
goldfish (also spelled, 'gold-fish'):
A fish with golden markings found in the South Seas (obsolete).
b. A small -- described by some as 'golden-red' -- fish (Cyprinus auratus)
of the carp family, a native of China, commonly bred and kept for ornament in
tanks, glass globes, etc. (see quot. 1802). gold-fish bowl, (a) a bowl,
usually a glass globe, in which gold-fish are kept (cf. _GLOBE_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/cgi/crossref?query_type=word&queryword=goldfish&;
edition=2e&first=1&max_to_show=10&single=1&sort_type=alpha&xrefed=OED&xrefword
=globe&ps=n.) n. 6b); (b) something resembling such a bowl; spec. a place
or situation affording no privacy (see also quot. 1942). c. = _GARIBALDI_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/cgi/crossref?query_type=word&qu
eryword=goldfish&edition=2e&first=1&max_to_show=10&single=1&sort_type=alpha&xr
efed=OED&xrefword=Garibaldi) 2.
1698 FROGER Voy. 45
The Gold-Fish and the Bonite continually make War with them in the Water.
1712 _E. COOKE_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-c3.html#e-cooke)
Voy. S. Sea 342 The Gold Fish is very beautiful.
1731 _MEDLEY_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-m3.html#medley)
Kolben's Cape G. Hope II. 192
The Cape-Gold-Fish is about a Foot and a Half long.
1791 _W. BARTRAM_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-b.html#w-bartram)
Carolina 44
The gold-fish is about the size of the anchovy.
1802 _BINGLEY_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-b2.html#bingley)
Anim. Biog. (1813) III. 86
Gold Fish are natives of China..They were first introduced into England
about the year 1691.
1873 _B. STEWART_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-s4.html#b-stewart)
Conserv. Force i. 8
A glass globe containing numerous goldfish.
1904 _â??SAKIâ??_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-s.html#saki)
Reginald 115, I might have been a gold~fish in a glass bowl
for all the privacy I got.
1935 M. SULLIVAN Our Times VI. viii. 150
The situation was the more trying because it was as plain to the newspapers
as to Harding and The situatheir relations for several months were carried
on in a goldfish bowl.
1941 _J. P. MARQUAND_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-m2.html#j-p-marquand)
H. M. Pulham, Esq. xxxi. 304
She was..telling Mrs. Jones.. not to let the maid pick up the broken pieces
of the goldfish bowl.
1942 _BERREY_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-b2.html#berrey)
& VAN DEN BARK Amer. Thes. Slang §466/11
Gold-fish bowl, the room in which the third degree is administered.
1951 Sat. Even. Post 22 Dec. 44/4
The towermen in their elevated air~conditioned goldfish bowls.
1958 R. STOW To Islands viii. 158
It's certainly not going to be easy for us, the white people. Living in a
goldfish bowl is the last thing we'd do for fun.
1965 Listener 20 May 730/1 The White House has always been a goldfish bowl,
but under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson it has become an educational theatre
as well.
1966 _J. DOS PASSOS_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-d2.html#j-dos-passos)
Best Times (1968) iv. 148
They served excellent beer in glasses the size of goldfish bowls.
1969 Guardian 26 Mar. 2/2
President Nixon..disclosed his belief that progress towards a Vietnam
settlement would come only through private talks... Serious negotiations could
not
take place in a goldfish bowl, he said.
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/cgi/entry_main/00096576?query_type=word&queryword=goldfish&edition=2e&first=1&max_to_show=10&single=1&sort
_type=alpha&case_id=XGNX-2Pwtjm-2434#top)
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