Polonius Speaks

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be, for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.”

I’ve been kidding around about this for some time, but gosh, that’s good advice. Loan oft loses both itself and friend — we sure know that’s true! And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry — just look at what happened to the over-borrowed economies of Asia.

“Shakespeare wrote it and Polonius says it,” notes reader Gordon Whiting, “but Polonius (being a fictional character) never spoke Danish — and I agree with you that the name sounds more Latin than Danish. But what kind of a name is ‘Hamlet’?”

Hmmm. Dunno.

Gordon continues:

“Shakespeare makes Polonius out to be a pompous fool, but in the particular speech the quote comes from, Shakespeare let Polonius say something intelligent, for a change. Polonius heads the one somewhat-functional family in the play (he’s father to Ophelia and Laertes) and maybe his maxims helped make it that way.

“I love the irony of his famous comment on brevity:

To expostulate on why day is day, night night, and time is time, were nothing but to waste both day, night, and time. Therefore, since brevity be the soul of wit, and tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief. [after he has not been nor will be in what comes next]

“Sorry, I got to play the part of Polonius last year, so some of the lines still stick in my memory.”

Thanks, Gordon! A flight of angels . . .

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Husbandry, it may be worth noting for those who did better on their math SATs than their verbals, has nothing to do with keeping your spouse in line. “Economical management” is one Webster’s definition. Keeping to a budget. That sort of thing. Top