USAGE: glittering gold (was: phat/vet/fat)

Thomas R. Wier scripsit:

> Um... that's not peculiar to America.  It's found throughout the
> English-speaking world.  You've read your Tolkien, right? If so,
> you would know he uses it there in one of the LotR series of books.
Actually not: he says something quite different from the usual proverb
"All that glitters is not gold" = "Not all that glitters is gold" =
"Some things that glitter are not gold" = "Some things are not as good
as they seem".

The poem says "All that is gold does not glitter" = "Not all gold things
glitter" = "Some things that are gold do not glitter" = "Some things
are much better than they seem".

Mark Twain's miner in _Roughing It_ tells us that *nothing* that glitters
is gold, at least in its natural state.

--
John Cowan                              <jcowan@...>
http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              http://www.reutershealth.com
                Charles li reis, nostre emperesdre magnes,
                Set anz totz pleinz ad ested in Espagnes.