Re: THEORY: Hebrew revival (was: THEORY: Irish, and language death)

Quoting Adam Walker <carrajena@...>:

> --- "Thomas R. Wier" <trwier@...> wrote:
>  Also,
> > don't you think the very fact that Bible stories are
> > so universally known, even by many nonreligious
> > people, aids the young student on their first attempt at
> > reading the original Biblical text?  As well known as
> > Shakespeare is, most high school students couldn't tell you the
> > ins and outs of _Titus Andronicus_ or _Timon of Athens_
> > in the same way any child could tell you what happened to
> > Samson and Delilah, or Moses and Pharaoh, or Noah and his
> > Ark. I simply don't see how you can compare these two
> > bodies of work.
>
> I don't think your offering comparable texts even now.
>  If you want to compare knowledge of three of the BEST
> known stories in the Bible with two of Shakesperes
> LEAST known plays (who some even think misattributed
> to Shakespeare), I don't think that's fair.  Compare
> Moses with Romeo and Juliet.  Compare Titus Andronicus
> with Shagmar.
I dunno. I'd say Titus Andronicus is better known than that.
There was a relatively well-received version starring Anthony Hopkins
that came out just a few years ago that was reasonably popular.
I do stand by my claim that, even in the case of Romeo and
Juliet, the vast, vast majority of English-speakers could
not give you plot summaries in the same way that many of
them could of the more well-known events in the Bible.

 =========================================================================
Thomas Wier            "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago   half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street     Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637

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