Lest we forget

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Chris Suslowicz

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

...Nor the years CONTEMN!

Contemn: Verb, to treat with Contempt.

[Ganmain Tony]

From Wikipedia... extracted from Anzac Day - Traditions, Facts and Folklore: Words of Remembrance

There has been some debate as to whether the line "Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn" should end with the words "condemn" or "contemn". Contemn means to "treat with contempt". When the poem was first printed in The Times on 21 September 1914 the word "condemn" was used. This word was also used in the anthology The Winnowing Fan: Poems of the Great War in 1914 in which the poem was later published. If the original publication had contained a misprint, Laurence Binyon would have had the chance to make amendments, so it seems unlikely that the word "contemn" was meant. The issue of which word was meant seems to have arisen only in Australia, with little debate in other Commonwealth countries that mark Remembrance Day.

[Chris Suslowicz]

Originally Posted by Tony Smith

...Nor the years CONTEMN!

Contemn: Verb, to treat with Contempt.

Are you sure about that?

A quick search on the internet showed very few hits for "contemn", and a search for "Binyon contemn" has results like this:

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Laurence_Binyon

and

http://www.army.gov.au/our-history/traditions/the-ode

I rest my case (it's heavy and my arm is getting tired).

Chris.

[Private_collector]

My search shows mostly as treating with contempt or similar.

I didn't even know this word existed prior to this thread, let alone know of it's use in The Ode.



By the way, cleanliness is not next to godliness. It's next to cleavage.......I looked it up!