Aug 7th 2012 08:28 am It’s a long way to grow
In case you’re wondering, here are the lyrics to the song. I’m sure you’ll want to pay particular attention to the parody verse at the end. Saucy stuff at the time of World War I. The article goes on to mention many plays and movies in which the song “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” was sung. One of them was “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,” the wonderful movie from 1966 and certainly in my top 50. I don’t think more has ever been said in a movie line than was said by the Russian sailor who, when asked why his submarine and its crew were lurking off New England, replied, “We wanted to see it!”
Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J
86 Responses to “It’s a long way to grow”
Mindy on 07 Aug 2012 at 8:46 am #
This offering is one of the most delightful…what is it, exactly? Can’t recall. Not a pun…anyway, Jimmy, I ended up snorting a soft drink again since I made the mistake of reading A&J while sipping a beverage. That happens on a pretty regular basis. My trouble with the lyrics is that I can’t recall the tune! I know the entire song isn’t done to the “long way” music. Is it? Come to think of it, that was a pun! I still love it!
Burns on 07 Aug 2012 at 9:08 am #
Speaking of “The Russians are coming” one of my favorite lines comes from a Russian running down the street pretending to be a local and trying to get people inside: ‘Everyone to get from street!’
curmudgeonly ex-professor on 07 Aug 2012 at 9:51 am #
Robin/Fl: (as to yesterday’s topic) Just as the foods we do eat are part of never-ending cycles on earth (including the atmosphere), so are the rocks and soil. Thus, even if we consumed rocks and soil directly, eventually the same mass would be returned to the cycles.
Outside of nuclear reactions, matter is neither created nor destroyed, though it can change identity; the amount of matter (that would be the mass) remains constant. We’d be in no danger of eating the earth into oblivion.
As to just why the Almighty designed things the way He did, I don’t pretend to know nor would it be wise to second-guess.
Good pun today, above!
Steve from Royal Oak, MI on 07 Aug 2012 at 9:54 am #
When I hear that song, I immediately think of the end of the last episode of the Mary Tyler Moore show. Just before they sang, they had a group hug and shuffled over to Mary’s desk for tissues.
But I can’t help but think of Chuckles the Clown, when I think of Mary, who tried so hard to keep from laughing at his funeral and then bawled when told it was OK to laugh. A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down the pants.
Kerry on 07 Aug 2012 at 10:23 am #
Arlo’s grin says it all without saying a thing…
Neal in Bahstawn on 07 Aug 2012 at 11:15 am #
Burns, we think alike. Except that to me, the full line is, “Emergency! Everyone to get from streets!” One of Alan Arkin’s great films.
John in Virginia on 07 Aug 2012 at 11:26 am #
I had no idea how bleeping difficult it would be to find a copy of that movie! But my darling romance of my life insisted…and when she insists, I bark twice and rush to obey. It’s just self-preservation…I mean love! Of course I mean love! {changing the subject} I loved the pun!
Bob, near Mark on 07 Aug 2012 at 12:08 pm #
The pun on the song that I remember is an old joke that I first heard in the 1950s and told by Carl DeSuze, the morning man on WBZ radio.
His version told of a Englishman who acquired an unusual pet called a “rarey”. When the rarey began to eat the man out of house and home, he decided to dispose of his pet by dumping him over the White Cliffs of Dover. At the cliff’s edge, the rarey looked down and said, “That’s a long way to tip a rarey!”
Steve in the Isle of Wight on 07 Aug 2012 at 12:09 pm #
Written in 1912, by a chap who lived up the road from me. There’s another wonderful song by my old pal Bill Caddick, ‘The writing of Tipperary’, which tells the story of the song and the events leading to WWI. You can listen to English folk legend June Tabor singing it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrZkhvb35EY
Bob, near Mark on 07 Aug 2012 at 12:11 pm #
Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame entry on WBZ’s Carl DeSuze.
http://www.massbroadcastershof.org/hof_carl_de_suze.htm
Jerry in Fl on 07 Aug 2012 at 12:12 pm #
I’ve always liked Stephen King’s answer as to how he thinks up his ideas. He says that he has the brain of a young child. It’s in a jar on his desk. Seriously, if you ever have a chance to see a brain it is a fascinating thing to see. Now don’t go caling CSI. My first “real” job was in a hospital.
Boise Ed on 07 Aug 2012 at 12:26 pm #
OMG, Bob, near Mark, I haven’t heard the raree joke since — well, about the 1950s. Properly told, it takes about five minutes. It’s right up there with “crossing sedate lions.”
Whistling Rufus on 07 Aug 2012 at 12:29 pm #
#1, I believe the term you’re looking for is malapropism.
Bob, near Mark on 07 Aug 2012 at 1:11 pm #
Boise Ed,
“crossing staid lions for immortal porpoises”
Bob, near Mark on 07 Aug 2012 at 1:15 pm #
Boise Ed,
And there was another long one about the “Haifa-lootin’, routine Teuton, son-of-a-gun from Tara’s owner, Rag Thyme Cow Pie Joe.”
Bob, near Mark on 07 Aug 2012 at 1:20 pm #
One of my favorite books, “A Treasury of Atrocious Puns” by Bennett Cerf. I don’t think Cow Pie Joe was in it, though.
There was one in the book about an unethical butcher who didn’t like a neighborhood fortune teller. He told his shop clerk to put his thumb on the scale and “Weigh down upon the swami’s liver!”
John in Virginia on 07 Aug 2012 at 2:29 pm #
And I thought I was the only adult left in the western hemisphere who had heard the Rarey joke! I had a copy of Cerf’s book, Bob, and it somehow got lost in a long distance move from one homestead to another. The moving company scoffed at my claim that it was a priceless heirloom.
sandcastler on 07 Aug 2012 at 2:43 pm #
Jerry in FL, in early eighties I had a brain in a glass jar sitting on an office credenza, called it my backup memory.
Bob, near Mark on 07 Aug 2012 at 2:51 pm #
John in Virginia,
And his Sunday column “The Cerfboard” was a favorite read, too.
Jerry in Fl on 07 Aug 2012 at 2:51 pm #
Good idea. I wonder if my nursing stepdaughter could get one for me. I certainly could use it, or at least the right half.
Jerry in Fl on 07 Aug 2012 at 2:56 pm #
Rufus, I hear that is very painful and the treatment for it is also.
Norm in Utah on 07 Aug 2012 at 3:19 pm #
Jerry in Fl
I won’t touch the “nursing stepdaughter,” but it sure does leave the field wide open.
Tom in Glendora, CA on 07 Aug 2012 at 3:21 pm #
I’ve heard that George M Cohan, who wrote ‘Over There’, stated.
“Don’t look for this war to produce any good songs. Wars never do”.
Two weeks later, he wrote ‘Over there’.
Galliglo in Ohio on 07 Aug 2012 at 3:25 pm #
From the comments above, I assume everyone had a restful weekend – for now you are rearin’ to go!
(or is that rarey?)
John in Virginia on 07 Aug 2012 at 3:28 pm #
But, was that a “good” song, Tome in Glendora, CA? I throw this out, was “Roll Me Over {in the clover}” a war song? And was “Painted Black” in that catagory as well? Or “I Gotta Get Out of this Place”? Painted Black is Number One on my Top 500 list of best/greatest rock ‘n’ roll songs…
curmudgeonly ex-professor on 07 Aug 2012 at 3:39 pm #
A couple of goodies associated with war, in my opinion, were “Lili Marlene” and “We’ll Meet Again”.
Burns on 07 Aug 2012 at 3:54 pm #
Neal: Yes! I knew there was something before it, but could not come up with “Emergency”. Of course you have to hear it in the pseudo-Russian accent (or maybe it was real…I don’t know who the actor was!)
Burns on 07 Aug 2012 at 4:06 pm #
Checking wikipedia…probably not real given the actor’s names
Ruth Anne in Winter Park on 07 Aug 2012 at 4:54 pm #
Back to puns – math was made easier when I learned that “the squaw on the hippopotamus is equal to the sum of the squaws on the other two hides”.
Mindy on 07 Aug 2012 at 5:06 pm #
Shame on you, Ruth Anne! [I loved that one!]
emeritus Minnesota biologist on 07 Aug 2012 at 5:18 pm #
Careful: squaw is non-PC. I believe it is, in fact, a word in one or more Indian languages, but it is no compliment to call a woman one.
Bob, near Mark on 07 Aug 2012 at 6:50 pm #
A few days ago, I posted scans of my father’s high school graduation program on a local Facebook page. The tune to the song sung at that graduation ceremony reminded me of another amusing pun (oxymoron?).
It seems that a son of Syngman Rhee (the first president of South Korea) was a well-known and well-liked photographer for Life Magazine. He was missing and could not be found, so Life Magazine hired Sir Henry M. Stanley, famous for finding Dr. David Livingstone in Africa. After many weeks of searching, Sir Henry finally found Mr. Rhee in a jungle in Borneo. Realizing that his first words when he found Dr. Livingstone, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume,” had become famous, he wanted to think of something appropriate for this situation. He came upon Syngman Rhee’s son and said, “Ah sweet Mister Rhee of Life, at last I’ve found you!”
Woodrowfan on 07 Aug 2012 at 7:13 pm #
I sent the link to this cartoon to a buddy who is a WWI specialist.
Mindy from Indy on 07 Aug 2012 at 7:24 pm #
This is one of my all-time favorites.
Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and, with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him … A super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.
Bob, near Mark on 07 Aug 2012 at 7:36 pm #
And then we have palindromes. You know. That guy played in the old western TV series by Richard Boone. “Have Gun, Will Travel. Wire Palindrome. San Francisco.” (Just kidding.)
I always liked this creaky old sample. “Straw? No, too stupid a fad. I put soot on warts.”
Mark in Boston on 07 Aug 2012 at 7:38 pm #
P.D.Q. Bach’s life was a rich source of puns for Peter Shickele. This last and certainly least son of J.S. Bach was for a time the organist at the parish of Our Lady of the Evening. He was a very prolific composer and, like Mozart, preferred to compose in a social setting, usually at his favorite pub where his favorite beer was served: Nibelungen Beer. He would always set down his stein on a page of music he had finished, leaving a ring. Almost every manuscript of his has a “Ring of the Nibelungen” as it’s called on at least one page. The innkeeper never raised the price of a stein of beer even with inflation. Instead he sneakily cheated his customers by buying a new set of beer steins every year; the steins in each set were just a little bit smaller than the one before. This is very fortunate for us because we can usually establish the year of composition by measuring the ring left by the stein. This way of dating P.D.Q. Bach’s works is known as the “Stein Way”.
Lost in A**2 on 07 Aug 2012 at 8:11 pm #
Oh. My.
On a more serious note, Mr. Shickele was a music professor, I’ve been told. He taught composition, specialising in recreating the styles of the masters.
curmudgeonly ex-professor on 07 Aug 2012 at 8:12 pm #
In one of Schickele’s works, he has mention of the famous waterway of the Ukraine, the “Crimea River”.
He also donated a pebble to a Bach descendent, Burt, so he could say that he had given “Burt Bach a rock”.
curmudgeonly ex-professor on 07 Aug 2012 at 8:14 pm #
“Shickele”? If so, excuse me!
Steve from Royal Oak, MI on 07 Aug 2012 at 8:21 pm #
One of my favorites is a little dated. Before he married Fergie, Prince Andrew had a fling with American actress Koo Stark. Shortly after that, rumor had it that she and former Baseball Comishioner Bowie (Boo-ie) Kuhn had an affair, even got married in Mexico.
The NY Post Headline screamed: Bowie and Koo Kuhn Honeymoon in Cancun.
Ghost Rider 6 on 07 Aug 2012 at 8:33 pm #
Sorry to be so late checking in, guys. I’ve been trying to console my neighbor, Dr. Johnson. He had his pocket picked, not once but, amazingly, several times today.
Is it true that French teenagers cannot count to seventy without cracking a smile?
Bob, near Mark on 07 Aug 2012 at 9:07 pm #
GR6,
I’ve never seen anything amusing about a French teenager mentioning sixty foam-rubber footballs. But I have been known to crack a simile or two.
Mark in TTown on 07 Aug 2012 at 10:13 pm #
Steve in Royal Oak, one of the British tabloids headlined nude pictures of Koo as “Koo Starkers!”.
Here is a link to some funny photos:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/signlanguage/9458911/Sign-Language-week-216.html
The Daily Telegraph runs new ones every week online, but not always on the same day. And the last photo in the series is not an animal cruelty joke. Apparently the English use a type of reflective marker called a cats eye, and the sign is a warning that the markers are missing.
TruckerRon on 07 Aug 2012 at 10:15 pm #
eMb: Squaw may not be PC, but it’s not an obscenity. According to one source it’s a modern, made-up lie with no evidence to support it:
http://bit.ly/TenrRM
Mindy from Indy on 07 Aug 2012 at 10:20 pm #
And I must say I loved today’s real-time strip. Arlo to the rescue! Mush!
TruckerRon on 07 Aug 2012 at 11:38 pm #
A bit of joy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyPDQpel8bI
If I ever end up in a care facility, I hope to have such good entertainment.
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 08 Aug 2012 at 4:54 am #
Javelin throwing – two thoughts:
at least it’s one of the ancient Olympic sports – unlike synchronized swimming and diving (groan, as Janis said).
However, how far can anyone throw an American Motors car?
MWL on 08 Aug 2012 at 7:14 am #
I worked with the mother of one of our javelin hurlers for years. Go Mike!
Dave in MA on 08 Aug 2012 at 7:29 am #
“Painted Black” ??? Do you mean “Paint It Black” by the Rolling Stones?
Jean from Dahlonega Ga aka Trapper Jean on 08 Aug 2012 at 7:41 am #
And since when was beach volleyball an ancient Olympic sport? bah.
My favorite is the story of Good Chief Shortcake. That was not his real name, of course, but since his real name was rather long, everybody used this nick-name. Chief Shortcake was loved by everyone, and when he died there was great mourning and the Chiefs of the other Nations came to pay him homage. They found his widow sitting at the opening of his teepee, and told her they were there to see to the funeral arrangements. With great dignity the old woman rose and said “Thank you, but Squaw bury Shortcake.”
Mindy, everything is on the Internet somewhere! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVM-tFAdADg
emeritus Minnesota biologist on 08 Aug 2012 at 8:18 am #
Trucker: Thanks. I added one of the insightful responses to my favorites for future ref.
Neal in Bahstawn on 08 Aug 2012 at 8:41 am #
Dave in MA, thanks for correcting John in VA on ‘Painted Black’. Such a faux pas ranks right up there with Nuke Laloosh’s “Oooh, she makes me wooly…”
And. Burns, it is in fact Alan Arkin who teaches his fellow crew members of the Russian submarine his impeccable English warning.
Woodrowfan on 08 Aug 2012 at 9:49 am #
Neal, my favorite misheard lyric is “Dirty deeds done with sheep” by AC/DC.
Bob, near Mark on 08 Aug 2012 at 10:23 am #
Re misheard lyrics. I always remember one I saw in Readers Digest back in the 1950s. A young child attempting “God Bless America” sang, “Stand beside her and guide her through the night with a light from a bulb.”
Symply Fargone on 08 Aug 2012 at 10:25 am #
@JJ,
The Russians knew New England was a cool place to be(especially in October; see foliage.) Are you still coming? Do you know when? I no longer find a link to your itinerant wanderings to our local source of bound pages? Inquiring divergent readers wish to know!
@ everyone,
Loved the movie “The Russians are Coming” and that is also my favorite line from the movie by Alan Arkin…
@Mindy,
Pictures of Portugese bamboo to follow, in case you ever finsih the Crusade here, you can go to one of the sites of the Crusades to continue. Beautiful country with great sailing weather btw(Atlantic is cold to swim), it was 80 to 100 degrees F with no rain at all for two weeks, but dry weather too.
Joni in Western ND on 08 Aug 2012 at 10:40 am #
I have no idea what the movie or song it is you are referring to. A bit before my time. I thought of AC/DC’s “Its a long way to the top (if you want to Rock N Roll).
I have a bonsai bush I make into topiary. Right now it is “Bonsai in Free Form” aka I’m letting it run wild at the moment.
buzz on 08 Aug 2012 at 11:44 am #
We just saw The Russians Are Coming a few weeks ago. A fun movie, but Jonathan Winters was miscast — he should have been the crank organizing the militia
Bob, near Mark on 08 Aug 2012 at 12:34 pm #
buzz,
Paul Ford was perfect in various cranky roles, from Col. Hall on TV in “You’ll Never Get Rich” (better known as “The Phil Silvers Show”) to Mayor George Shinn in the film “The Music Man.” Hermione Gingold’s character as his wife had a great name, “Eulalie Mackechnie Shinn”.
Mindy on 08 Aug 2012 at 1:28 pm #
The Portugese are plagued with bamboo, Fargone????? OMG! It IS a conspiracy! The Aliens have started taking over! It’s a Government plot! The [Select the Party of your choice here] did it! Blame it on Global Warming or Nuclear Winter! Save the Pandas!
Debbie in Alabama on 08 Aug 2012 at 1:48 pm #
@ Ruth Anne love it! School starting soon for you?
Charlotte in NH on 08 Aug 2012 at 4:51 pm #
Oh — Mindy — Your letter reminded me: a while ago I was telling my daughter about your struggles with the bamboo. She lived for some years in the Washington DC area and loved the pandas at the National Zoo. She asked me to write back to you and suggest getting in touch with the Zoo to see if they would be interested in your bamboo, to feed to their pandas. No, seriously ! If the distance is not unreasonable, they really need sources and she says they like to get different varieties or strains of the stuff. So there you are, message delivered. Hope it helps.
Ruth Anne in Winter Park on 08 Aug 2012 at 4:56 pm #
@ Debbie – Yes, staff is back to work this week and students come on Monday. Here we go ’round again!
@ the rest of this fine group – Here’s another example of the “small world” effect that occurs here. I first “met” Debbie while doing an online professional development program called School Library Learning 2.0. Don’t know how it is in your professions but in education it’s rare that you get to do something fun that teaches you about a lot of resources that you can actually use – and I got almost 1/3 of the points I needed for recertification! If you look up “23 things” and “web 2.0″, you’ll find variations that were developed for libraries, schools, and other groups. Many of them need to be up-dated but you might find them fun to play with.
Charlotte in NH on 08 Aug 2012 at 5:08 pm #
Bob, near Mark — thank you for the link to Carl DeSuze’s picture. I was saddened, though, to see him as an old geezer. He seemed young and good looking on the radio, when my mother and I listened to him every morning before I left for High School. He announced Marjorie Mills’ program aimed at homemakers, cooking and so on, but sprightly and far-ranging, and Carl was part of the show too, commenting on food, events, and so on. I wish I could remember better. And it wasn’t a bad time of day, either, for we didn’t have to be in school until 8:30 plus a bit. I feel so sorry for today’s High School students who have to be there about 7:10. What an awful time to get up for. And their poor parents as well.
Charlotte in NH on 08 Aug 2012 at 5:29 pm #
Ghost Rider 6, I couldn’t imagine why you were alluding to Samuel Johnson; so I googled it. Enlightenment ! You are highly educated, or well read, or both. I have seen that quote but forgot. My grandfather was fond of puns and once said that castles in Spain are likely to be an delusion.
Ghost Rider 6 on 08 Aug 2012 at 6:02 pm #
Ah, shucks, ma’am.
Mindy on 08 Aug 2012 at 6:11 pm #
Charlotte, don’t feed Ghost’s ego. He’ll end up drooling on your feet. [But he is loveable.] As for the Washington Zoo, that’s about a 10-hour drive all the way across state and they’d want fresh leaves to feed the Pandas which does nothing for my problem of getting rid of the Demon Weed. Tell your daughter that it was a great idea, though, and I appreciate yours and her thoughts.
Lost in A**2 on 08 Aug 2012 at 6:14 pm #
Stolen off the web:
My Oxford Dictionary of Quotations reads thusly on page 237: “John Dennis 1657-1734, English critic, poet, and playwright, 2 A man who could make so vile a pun would not scruple to pick a pocket. The Gentleman’s Magazine (1781) p. 324 (editorial note)”
Ghost Rider 6 on 08 Aug 2012 at 6:18 pm #
I can’t believe no one mentioned one of my personal favorites, from CCR’s “Bad Moon Rising”…”there’s a bathroom on the right.”
The way to add excitement to the javelin throw is to make it a team sport, consisting of a “flinger” (I miss Andy Griffith) and a “catcher.”
Mindy, I have been known to drool, but never on feet, as far as I can recall. Although there’s a first time for everything. And I thought Demon Weed was something else.
Bob on 08 Aug 2012 at 7:19 pm #
I thought Jimi Hendrix had the most famous misheard line – “S’cuse me while I kiss this guy.”
Mindy on 08 Aug 2012 at 8:22 pm #
Ghost, “Demon Weed” IS something else but this is basically a family-oriented site and I cannot use the full force of my negative vocabulary to quantify the hatred, lothing, disgust and general displeasure that I feel for the [expletive deleted] and [another expletive deleted] example of [six expletives deleted] and [more expletives than I care to count deleted] species of [even I'm disgusted by that word which was deleted wearing latex gloves] vegetation. And I haven’t even gotten into George Carlin’s seven words…
I wonder it I managed to sufficiently express my…disgust?
And, Ghost, you know I’m teasing, right? I’m only sayin’…
John in Virginia on 08 Aug 2012 at 8:30 pm #
I’m laughing so hard my sides ache! In case there is any doubt in anyone’s mind, Mindy does most assuredly hate and loathe bamboo. But what’s really making me giggle and gasp is the fact that, when she gets really and truly wound up and irate, she actually DOES throw “expletive deleted” into the conversation from time to time. The irony is that she does that when she is especially mad. This isn’t to say that she’s potty mouth, she is a lady in the best Southern traditions {which means she’ll smile, apologize and offer you a cool drink when she cuts your throat} and can most often slice an artery with such grace that her victim often walks a few hundred yarts before even sensing the wound. And, Ghost? The lady really does like you and Fargone and all the rest she teases. I’m not apologizing for her. I’m just sayin’…
Good Heavens! Did I really say that?????
Jerry in Fl on 08 Aug 2012 at 8:31 pm #
Jean, was the chief found dead in his tee pee?
Steve from Royal Oak, MI on 08 Aug 2012 at 8:35 pm #
Neil Armstrong had a quadruple bypass today. Neil went to my ala mater Purdue as did the last man to walk on the moon, Eugene Cernan. We followed Neil’s career ever since he became an astronaut as my family lived in Wapakoneta, Ohio. Shortly after he walked on the moon, we took a trip to the farm that my parents lived and then drove by Neil’s parents’ house, which still had the big TV tower so that the networks could broadcast live. God Speed Neil Armstrong.
Russell Way Out There on 08 Aug 2012 at 8:39 pm #
Have been away for a bit doing things to put food on the table and I’ve spent some time going through posts of the past two weeks. I’ve missed a lot, I guess but I’m glad you guys had fun and I’m really happy to see that Jimmy’s Fan Club hasn’t lost its edge any more than he has! Now I’m laughing, tho. John, I can just see Mindy sputtering and fuming and shouting “expletive deleted” which would be more effective than if she actually said a dirty. I may be wrong, but she strikes me a fifty-fifty tomboy and vamp — if that word’s even used these days — and a lot smarter and far more sensitive than she generally lets the world see. Am I wrong? Or is she that rare kind who says what she thinks and never pretends to like something or someone that she really doesn’t like? That’s an alpha female who’s probably a lot of fun and very nurturing and I would guess that she does like Ghost and Fargone and the rest of the males who are willing to butt heads with her. I also figure that if anyone would ever dare attack anyone in here — especially one of the ladies — that your Mindy would lead the charge to defend. Lord! I love this blog and the people in it. Everyone is good for a fun laugh and that’s said in a totally approving way! Bless you all. And thank you, Jimmy. You’re to be judged by your work, by the people who love your work, and this group, I think, makes you great.
Ghost Rider 6 on 08 Aug 2012 at 9:33 pm #
Thanks, Russell. If I’d attempted to summarize why I keep coming back here, I couldn’t have done a better job of it than you just did. As is, I suspect, the case with many of you, I have a pretty serious job, and it’s great to come here on break or in the evening and be amused by the comments and observations of members of our community. And if I can in turn amuse some of you, that’s gravy. (Occasionally I even amuse myself, but don’t tell anyone.)
At the risk of sounding like the president of Mindy’s fan club, let me say two things. 1. Quite some time ago, I decided she could be classified as “an American original.” B. John is a very lucky man. Nothing has yet changed either opinion.
Mark in TTown on 08 Aug 2012 at 10:20 pm #
Jerry in FL, The Texas and Pacific railroad was famous for its coffee. Its headquarters had a billboard that read “Drink T and P coffee”.
Mark in TTown on 08 Aug 2012 at 11:29 pm #
Here is a link I found for those interested in folksongs. There are enough there to keep everyone busy for quite a while!
http://ingeb.org/home.html
curmudgeonly ex-professor on 09 Aug 2012 at 12:24 am #
Charlotte (5:29pm): I totally enjoy puns and have for all of my reading life. The one from your grandfather was a new one to me! That’s rare, and I thank you for sharing.
Mindy, contact the zoo people in/near DC and offer them your bamboo plants – FREE – if they only come and get them. Point out that they could then grow their own for the pandas. If you hit upon a not-too-alert set of folks there, you might be able to get rid of a large portion of your bleep-bleep-bleepity-bloop plants!
curmudgeonly ex-professor on 09 Aug 2012 at 12:27 am #
Make that “bleep-bleep-bleepity-bloop-honk-honk plants” – no use leaving stones unturned or, in this blog, any “sterns untoned” (so get some nice rays while summer lasts)….
Rick in Shermantown, Ohio on 09 Aug 2012 at 4:53 am #
Today’s strip about European vacations:
When do the staffs of the holiday camps have their vacations and where do they go?
Neal in Bahstawn on 09 Aug 2012 at 7:10 am #
John in VA, that fact that Mindy is from the finest traditions of souuthern ladyhood reminds my my first cotillion. My date was Amanda Sue and she was from a very good Augusta, GA family and spoke with a wonderful Southern accent. She had always worn rather demure clothing on our previous dates. But the evening I picked her up at her home for the cotillion, she came down the staircase wearing a startlingly low-cut gown.
I think my eyes were bugging out, but at last I had the presence of mind to say, “Amanda Sue, you dress is absolute stunning!” She smiled and said, “Sho’ ’nuff?” and I immediately replied, “It sure does.”
Incidentally, for all the misheard song lyrics, there’s a word for that: a “mondegreen”. Here’s a link to the explanation: http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~wilkins/writing/Resources/essays/mondegreens.html.
Anonymous on 09 Aug 2012 at 7:16 am #
Russell and GR6: I agree completely! Only you say much better than I can. I may not read all my email in a timely manner, but I never miss this site. Thanks, EVERYONE!
Galliglo in Ohio on 09 Aug 2012 at 7:17 am #
I am the aforementioned anonymous. The hand is quicker than the brain – Ah, me…
Jean from Dahlonega Ga aka Trapper Jean on 09 Aug 2012 at 7:46 am #
Jerry in Fl-I don’t remember, but then again it has been a long time since I’ve told the entire joke.
And to the rest of you, there’s a good reason Southern ladies are called steel magnolias…we might look delicate, but we’ll take on the Devil and come out with our hair still neat! And on the subject of crazy? We don’t hide it around here; we invite it up on the porch and offer it a glass of sweet tea!
phil in Missoula, MT on 09 Aug 2012 at 8:08 am #
Mindy, here’s another expletive deleted word for you…”Unprintable”
John in Richmond Texas on 09 Aug 2012 at 8:15 am #
misheard lyrics – I never knew when Sam Cooke was twistin’ the night away what “chicken slacks” were Joni/ND mentions “It’s a Long Way to the Top” – you know Pat Boone does a great version of that on his “In a Metal Mood” album