Frazz by Jef Mallett for May 18, 2021

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    Concretionist  over 3 years ago

    One of my favorite pastimes used to be reading the dictionary and then looking at nearby words… or definitions of words in the definition. Now I do a very similar thing on the web.

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    Concretionist  over 3 years ago

    One of my favorite pastimes used to be looking up a word in the dictionary or encyclopedia and then following a zig-zag track from there to wherever it led. Now I use the web for that.

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    Bilan  over 3 years ago

    If you’re in Family Circus, the zigging and zagging is 10x as far.

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    pschearer Premium Member over 3 years ago

    I’m sure the Romans weren’t the only culture to have a measurement based on 1000 paces.

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    Sanspareil  over 3 years ago

    Miles Standish did not know he had 999 others of his name and I doubt he would want to go on a journey with them!

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    jrobertstevens  over 3 years ago

    The Chinese measurement term is “Li”.

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    Ignatz Premium Member over 3 years ago

    It’s called “translation,” Caulfield. You’re supposed to be precocious.

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    Jeffin Premium Member over 3 years ago

    The journey of a thousand smiles starts with one essential tooth.

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    sandpiper  over 3 years ago

    So, keeping one’s eye on the ball is successful only so long as one’s other eye is on it, too?

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    rugeirn  over 3 years ago

    “The journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step.” Big deal. Getting up to visit the john also begins with a single step. Sonority does not equal wisdom. You can learn that from Lao Tzu; you can also learn it from Khalil Gibran. Shakespeare has his moments too, as Bernard Sharpoint it out.

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    DM2860  over 3 years ago

    Quotes tend to get more than translated but modified to fit the language of the speaker. “A journey of a thousand third of a miles begins with a single step” does not work as well.

    Also “give them an inch they’ll take an ell” does not work as well in a society that does not use the ell as a type of distance.

    But both have been used to demonstrate how Americans exaggerate since neither measurement is anywhere near a mile in length.

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    Grutzi  over 3 years ago

    I like the last quotation about zigging and zagging, finding a distraction, and having the length of the journey be twice as long. I equate it to cleaning up the house which can take all day as you put something where it belongs, pick up something else to move and go on and on.

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    Richard S Russell Premium Member over 3 years ago

    At my age, a journey of a thousand millimetres begins with a single groan.

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    anomaly  over 3 years ago

    Leaving the measurement as a thousand ‘ri’ is awkward when all the other words are in English.

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    swenbu Premium Member over 3 years ago

    Not sure this is quite the same thing, but… thanks to the commenter a while back who brought my attention to Frazz’ FB page, I now go there immediately after reading the strip and most of the comments! Because the comments are helpful to me sometimes, I haven’t quite decided about whether it’s best to read them first and then go to FB, or vice versa. Life is difficult!!

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    ChukLitl Premium Member over 3 years ago

    Tao Te Ching is brilliant ironic comedy. It opens with; for a peaceful empire muzzle the bright ones.

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    Cactus-Pete  over 3 years ago

    I’m guessing that Lao Tzu didn’t use the word “journey” either, or “begins”, or anything else in English.

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    Ukko wilko  over 3 years ago

    Lao Tzu expressed the saying in Chinese and used “li” as the unit of measure.

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    asrialfeeple  over 3 years ago

    “If you want to go fast, travel alone. If you want to go far, bring company”

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    briangj2  over 3 years ago

    The proverb ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’ is first found in the Tao Te Ching, which is a classical Chinese Taoist text usually credited to Laozi (a.k.a. Lao Tzu), and probably written between the 4th and 6th century BC. The original text is:

    “A journey of a thousand li [a Chinese mile] starts beneath one’s feet”

    https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/a-journey-of-a-thousand-miles-begins-with-a-single-step.html

    From the quote 千里之行,始於足下, by the Chinese philosopher Lao (c 604 bc – c 531 bc) in the Tao Te Ching, chapter 64. Sometimes this quote is erroneously attributed to Laozi’s contemporary, Confucius (c 551 bc – c 479 bc), founder of Confucianism.

    Chinese:

    Cantonese: 千里之行,始於足下‎, 千里之行,始于足下‎ (cin1 lei5 zi1 hang4, ci2 jyu1 zuk1 haa6)

    Mandarin: 千里之行,始於足下‎, 千里之行,始于足下‎ (qiānlǐ zhīxíng, shǐyú zúxià)

    https://www.wordsense.eu/a_journey_of_a_thousand_miles_begins_with_a_single_step/

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    fritzoid Premium Member over 3 years ago

    Lao Tzu also wrote: Without going out of my door, I can see all things on earth. … The farther one travels, the less one knows. (Tao Te Ching, Chapter 47, G. Harrison trans.)

    So maybe that single step is a bad idea. Was the verse Caulfield quotes intended as a warning?

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    Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo]  over 3 years ago

    “Knowing others is intelligence;

    knowing yourself is true wisdom.

    Mastering others is strength;

    mastering yourself is true power.”

    ― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

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    mistercatworks  over 3 years ago

    I believe this was attributed to “Ibid”. :)

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    MITZI  over 3 years ago

    Jef Mallett: Your wit and grace are appreciated.

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    soaringblocks  over 3 years ago

    TRUE!

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    DM2860  over 3 years ago

    You determine the start and turns of the journey so in part whether it is good or bad is up to you.

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