2013年10月19日 星期六

helluva, intention, tip one's hand, the road to hell is paved with good intentions





The scientists are not revealing their 90-country scores yet, pending the actual publication of the study, but they are tipping their hands a little. Watch your steps, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and, yes, China.



the road to hell is paved with good intentions

proverb promises and plans must be put into action, otherwise they are useless.



tip one's hand
Accidentally reveal one's intentions, as in He avoided any comments on birthdays for fear of tipping his hand about the surprise party. This idiom probably alludes to holding one's hand in such a way that others can see the cards one is holding. [Colloquial; early 1900s]



the road to hell is paved with good intentions

proverb promises and plans must be put into action, otherwise they are useless.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions

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Meaning

The intention to engage in good acts often fails. The phrase is also sometimes interpreted as meaning that good intentions may have unwanted negative consequences. This second interpretation is at odds with early versions of the proverb (see below).

Origin

The origin of almost all proverbs is shrouded by the mists of time. Nevertheless, there is no shortage of claimants to the authorship of 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions'.
The expression is often attributed to the Cistercian abbot Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 – 1153). This attribution was made by St Francis de Sales in Correspondence: Lettres d'Amitié Spirituelle(written in 1640 and printed in 1980). The de Sales version was 'l'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés ou désirs', which translates as ‘hell is full of good intentions and wishes’. The five hundred year gap and the fact that the text isn't found in the works of St Bernard suggests that we can discount Francis's account.
The road to hell is paved with good intentionsAnd... just when you've waited five hundred years for one St. Bernard myth, along comes a second. St. Bernard rescue dogs don't carry casks of brandy around their necks to give drinks to people who are stranded in snowdrifts. That idea comes from a painting by the popular Victorian painter Sir Edwin Landseer. His 1820 painting Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveller shows such a scene and the image entered the public consciousness. However, Landseer made it up, it never happened.
Back to the proverb. Early English versions don't refer to the road to hell or suggest that such a road was paved, but simply state that hell was filled with good intentions. In more recent times there is always a mention of paving. This adaptation may have been influenced by Ecclesiasticus 20:10:
The way of sinners is made plain with stones, but at the end thereof is the pit of hell.
The person who made the 'paved' version popular appears to have been James Boswell in The Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D.,1791, who is second favourite after Saint Bernard as the suggested author of this proverb:
No saint, however, in the course of his religious warfare, was more sensible of the unhappy failure of pious resolves, than Johnson. He said one day, talking to an acquaintance on this subject, "Sir Hell is paved with good intentions."
Johnson didn't coin the phrase however. In 1670, the English theologian John Ray published A Collection of English Proverbs, in which he used the version that Johnson later quoted.
The 'road' element was added even later. The first time that the complete proverb 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions' appears in print is in Henry G. Bohn's A Hand-book of Proverbs, 1855. Neither Bohn nor Ray claimed to have coined the phrase, they were collectors, not originators.
As to who did coin the phrase. I intended to discover that and to let you know but, regrettably, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
See other English Proverbs

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intention

Pronunciation: /ɪnˈtɛnʃ(ə)n/
Translate intention | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish

noun

  • 1a thing intended; an aim or plan:she was full of good intentions [with infinitive]:he announced his intention to stand for re-election
  • [mass noun] the action or fact of intending:intention is just one of the factors that will be considered
  • (someone's intentions) a person’s plans, especially a man’s, in respect to marriage:if his intentions aren’t honourable, I never want to see him again
  • 3 (intentions) Logic conceptions formed by directing the mind towards an object.

Derivatives



intentioned

adjective
[in combination]:a well-intentioned remark

Origin:

late Middle English: from Old French entencion, from Latin intentio(n-) 'stretching, purpose', from intendere (see intend)


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... the Town" soundtrack. Read New York, New York song lyrics, watch music video, send ringtone, listen mp3 > ... New York, New York, it's a helluva town! CHIP:

helluva

Syllabification: (hell·uv·a)
Pronunciation: /ˈheləvə/
nonstandard spelling of a hell of a —— (see hell).I’m in a helluva mess

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