Robert wrote: > Wasn't the same true in Britain (and for all I know, Boston) until not > too long ago. 'Madame, there is a _person_ here to see you,' i.e., > someone from the lower orders. And/or someone you'd rather not be around. E.g. Coleridge's "person from Porlock" and what about in French, eg: "Guard! Cet individu m'importune. Remove him from my orbit, if you please." >'A characteristic remark that Wittgenstein would make when referring to >someone who was notably generous or kind was "He is a _human >being_!"âthus implying that most people fail even to be human.' >âNorman Malcom, Ludwig Wittgenstein: a Memoir, p. 61 Arabic does that too. MN ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html