The beatings will continue until morale improves

(Email Removed) asked
[nq:1]What's the source for this phrase ?[/nq]
The same idea is expressed by Voltaire in "Candide" (1759). When Candide asked why the English had shot their Admiral (the one who had failed to execute his orders to invade Mallorca), he was told this drastic action had to be taken "pour encourager les autres". Same irony, different wording.

Richard Chambers Lee

Richard Chambers had it:
[nq:2]What's the source for this phrase ?[/nq]
[nq:1]The same idea is expressed by Voltaire in "Candide" (1759). When Candide asked why the English had shot their Admiral ... invade Mallorca), he was told this drastic action had to be taken "pour encourager les autres". Same irony, different wording.[/nq]
True, but it seems to me that the full sentence carries

[nq:2]What's the source for this phrase ?[/nq]
[nq:1]The same idea is expressed by Voltaire in "Candide" (1759). When Candide asked why the English had shot their Admiral ... invade Mallorca), he was told this drastic action had to be taken "pour encourager les autres". Same irony, different wording.[/nq]
But that's not the same at all. The admiral thing is the standard stick approach, and

Richard Chambers filted:
[nq:2]What's the source for this phrase ?[/nq]
[nq:1]The same idea is expressed by Voltaire in "Candide" (1759). When Candide asked why the English had shot their Admiral ... invade Mallorca), he was told this drastic action had to be taken "pour encourager les autres". Same irony, different wording.[/nq]
Then there's the Monty Python fairy tale sketch set in H

[nq:1]What's the source for this phrase ?[/nq]
I don't know. I found that a restaurant chain has taken it for a slogan:

We were eating a seafood place called Blackbeard's in Corpus Christi, when my mom saw a t-shirt that
she said was perfect for me. It had the restaurant logo on the front, and "The floggings will continue until morale improves" on the back.

-Anonymous Mar

[nq:1]But that's not the same at all. The admiral thing is the standard stick approach, and commonsensical with no hint of irony. Morale, on the other hand, can never be improved by beatings, so it's a Dilbertism.[/nq]
In the military sense, willingness to carry out duties or meet standards, morale can be improved by direct punishment upon or terrorization of the person whose morale needs impr

[nq:1]But that's not the same at all. The admiral thing is the standard stick approach, and commonsensical with no hint of irony. Morale, on the other hand, can never be improved by beatings, so it's a Dilbertism.[/nq]
Does that apply to self-flagellation?

John Dean
Oxford

[nq:2]But that's not the same at all. The admiral thing ... can never be improved by beatings, so it's a Dilbertism.[/nq]
[nq:1]Does that apply to self-flagellation?[/nq]
I don't think we Brits are into any kind of flag-elation.

Matti

[nq:2]What's the source for this phrase ?[/nq]
[nq:1]The same idea is expressed by Voltaire in "Candide" (1759). When Candide asked why the English had shot their Admiral ... invade Mallorca), he was told this drastic action had to be taken "pour encourager les autres". Same irony, different wording.[/nq]
The idea was put into practice a generation later by Robbespierre, and with great suc

[nq:1]But that's not the same at all. The admiral thing is the standard stick approach, and commonsensical with no hint ... never be improved by beatings, so it's a Dilbertism. I think this boils down to what we mean by "encourage".[/nq]
Or "morale". There are plenty of folk who think that beatings improve morals and that "morale" is a posh kind of "moral".

Chris Malcolm (Email Remove