Disputatio:Malo malo malo malo

Order

At school I was taught this as a macaronic, and in a different order:

Mālo I would rather be

mālo in an apple tree

malo than a wicked boy

malo in adversity. Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 17:12, 17 Octobris 2007 (UTC)

Quite right, Andrew. I started this thinking I had time, and it turned into I had no time. I will fix it....--Ioscius ^(disp) 18:03, 17 Octobris 2007 (UTC)

I'm assuming, by the by, that that has nothing to do with macaroni? --Ioscius ^(disp) 18:05, 17 Octobris 2007 (UTC)

Make no such assumption. An article on macaronic literature is demanded, I think. Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 19:50, 17 Octobris 2007 (UTC)

I heard it as:

I would rather be

on a ship at sea,

than an evil man

in an apple tree.--Andreas 13:22, 30 Decembris 2009 (UTC)

Sounds fine in English, but doesn't work as a translation of this phrase in Latin: "malo" cannot mean on a ship at sea. Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 11:46, 30 Decembris 2009 (UTC)

I think it can, actually, Andrew. mālus can mean "mast" too, right? --Ioscius ^(disp) 12:54, 30 Decembris 2009 (UTC)

That is the explanation: a synecdoche too. So there should be one malō without a macron on the a. I like this version because it gets one more distinct meaning into the sentence, but loses the symmetry of having two long as and two short.--Andreas 13:22, 30 Decembris 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, gentlemen. I live and learn :) Andrew Dalby (disputatio) 13:18, 2 Ianuarii 2010 (UTC)