NORFOLK "DISAPPOINTMENT."
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—The use of the word " disappointment " in Norfolk to express agreeable surprise, as stated by your correspondent in the Spectator of July 30th, may perhaps throw light upon a popular utterance which, when the ordinary meaning attaches to the word "disappoints," is so repugnant to our religious feeling, that we cannot but wonder how it originated. The utterance in question is as follows : "Man appoints, God disappoints." This saying, were the word " disappoints " employed in the Norfolk sense, instead of being the expression of almost cynical despair, might be regarded as the joyful recognition of the fact that, at times, human efforts are crowned with a measure of success so far transcending expec- tation, that it can only be attributed to the overruling agency of supernal power. It would be interesting to know whether the saying quoted above originated in Norfolk, and whether, in that case, it would bear the suggested interpretation, which I should rejoice to see substituted for that which ordinarily
attaches to the words.—I am, Sir, &c., S. A.
[We always supposed" Man appoints, and God disappoints," to be a blundering translation of " L'homme propose, Dieu dispose." At any rate, the vulgar use of " disappoints " in the phrase is assuredly not the Norfolk one.—ED. Spectator.]
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