clingons

[Judy Seigel <jseigel@panix.com>]

On Fri, 21 Dec 2007, Ryuji Suzuki wrote:

> "Patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings."
> (Bob Dylan, Sweetheart Like You, 1983)
Ouch, ouch ouch!

Samuel Johnson's original, as recorded by Boswell in 
"Life of Johnson," 1775 (& indexed in Bartlett's) was:

"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."

However the phrase is usually given as "... last refuge of scoundrels" -- 
that is, in the plural, which sounds much better (at least to this ear).

Hard to believe in any event that Bob Dylan could do something so flat, 
but maybe the music (or the whine ?) helped.

J.