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oabyone | 14:41 Thu 26th Jun 2003 | Phrases & Sayings
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Is the saying 'More,speed less haste' the correct saying?
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sorry, did you want to know what it means too?
if it helps settle an argument, it appears that 'more haste less speed' is the slightly more popular turn of phrase according to Googlefight http://www.googlefight.com/cgi-bin/compare.pl?q1=m
ore+speed+less+haste&q2=more+haste+less+speed&B1=Make+a+fight%21&compare=1&langue=us
As Answerbok says, 'More haste, less speed' is the original version. At least it was the version in Heywood's collection of English proverbs published in 1546.
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Cheers guys, thats that settled.
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I have only heard it " More speed, less haste". My work is 50-50 on it and even web searches give both.
likely reason why it's 50/50 on Google.. the Americans turned it around to express their individuality like they done with so many words; we say tomato, so they say tomayto; i think they got a committee for it. e.g. the ground floor, they say first floor.. the road, they call the pavement.. - true. they trying to get us killed? Hey buddy! Don't drive on the pavement! ... no offence yanks but you do got a way with words.
'More haste, less speed'. To make haste , to hurry is to rush and that is not the same as making good speed, going fast . The proverb points out the inefficiency in rushing around ; the more we rush the more likely we are, for rexample, to forget our keys, money, wallet, map or other essentials so we end up being late . More speed may involve less rushing, less haste; it may not make a difference sometimes; but it is certain that increasing the haste will eventually result in less speed. The Romans had the same proverbial thought : 'Festina lente' ' 'hurry slowly' (sometimes given as 'make haste slowly'); they took the wording from a Greek proverb, so the idea is an old and well-travelled one.
"Festina lente" is also the only piece of Latin I know, as it happens to be our school's motto, and I have to say, there is wisdom in it. I've just had to correct several mistakes due to typing too quickly. Good answer, Fred.
So, a ready made excuse if anyone late for school, Squirrel :-)
(Squirrel - just a message and nothing to do with this thread. My apologies, Oabyone.) Did you see the reply I posted for you in the 'Favourite punctuation mark' thread in the 'Arts/Lit' category? There were further responses thereafter, too, that you might enjoy.

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