Re: Ask not what your country can do for you

In article <455E51C7.7C02@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Ron Hardin <rhhardin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Do you have examples of this grand ``Ask not'' construction having
been picked up?

I'm not even sure what century it comes from. It rings a little of
a Boy's Book of Maxims from the early 1800s.

it's deliberately archaizing, as are modern uses of "speak not of...",
"tell me not that...", and similar things. the intention is to sound
serious and lofty, using a construction (negation of main rather than
auxiliary verb) that harks back to the great oratory of America's
early years.

There's a better construction for it nowadays.

i hope you're not suggesting that
Do not ask what your country can do for you...
Don't ask what your country can do for you...
(with the modern negated auxiliary) or
You shouldn't ask what your country can do for you...
or
Rather than asking what your country can do for you...
Instead of asking what your country can do for you...
would have been more effective. aside from being more pedestrian than
Kennedy's version, all these accent the verb ASK(ING), while Kennedy's
version gives a heavier accent to NOT than to ASK, and that's
important.

arnold


.

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