I heard a Californian student in Heidelberg, say, in one of his calmest
moods, that he would rather decline two drinks than one German adjective.
("The Awful German Language," _A Tramp Abroad_ Appendix D, 606)

At 12:36 PM 1/10/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>Dear Forum --
>        I've been asked about the following quotation: "I
>need a quote from Mark Twain (I think) about the
>declensions of Latin nouns.  It goes
>something like this: 'I would rather decline a beer than a
>Latin noun.'  Could you verify/correct this quote?"
>        It rings a bell (though I wonder if it wasn't about
>German rather than Latin?) but I can't say for sure if it's
>the real McTwain.  Can any of you help?  Is it Twain's? and
>if so, where is it from?  Thanks, Steve Railton