Interesting. That's a very appropriate word.
one of my friends memonic for the rainbow is Run Off You Girls Boys In View.
Our version of the months rhyme ends differently..
30 days hath September,
April June and November.
All the rest have 31
excepting February alone
Which has 28 days clear
and 29 each leap year
and, Vivien. When one is learning to play piano:
The spaces in the treble clef spell "FACE"
The lines in the treble clef say, Every Good Boy Does Fine.
(don't tell ehBeth, but I've forgotten the mnemonic devices for the bass clef.
)
<<shielding eyes from evidence of any imperfection on Letty's part>>
from my ukelele lessons, 30+ years ago :
Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge
How about alto? Every Good Boy Deserves to learn how they want to, without any demonic intervention at all...oh, wait, you meant 'mnemonic'...never mind....I have always liked DADGAD, the standard guitar tuning for many of Stan Rogers' popular songs.
Psst...I used to play viola, but I'm damned if I can still read alto clef....
Where the earth shows its bones of wind-broken stone
And the sea and the sky are one
I'm caught out of time, my blood sings with wine
And I'm running naked in the sun
There's God in the trees, I'm weak in the knees
And the sky is a painful blue
I'd like to look around, but Honey, all I see is you.
The summer city lights will soften the night
Til you'd think that the air is clear
And I'm sitting with friends, where forty-five cents
Will buy another glass of beer
He's got something to say, but I'm so far away
That I don't know who I'm talking to
Cause you just walked in the door, and Honey, all I see is you
(CHORUS)
And I just want to hold you closer than I've ever held anyone before
You say you've been twice a wife and you're through with life
Ah, but Honey, what the hell's it for?
After twenty-three years you'd think I could find
A way to let you know somehow
That I want to see your smiling face forty-five years from now.
So alone in the lights on stage every night
I've been reaching out to find a friend
Who knows all the words, sings so she's heard
And knows how all the stories end
Maybe after the show she'll ask me to go
Home with her for a drink or two
Now her smile lights her eyes, but Honey, all I see is you
45 years
Stan Rogers
The English/ British version of that rhyme is similar, but different:
Thirty days hath September
April, June, and November
All the rest have thirty-one
Excepting February alone
Which hath but twenty-eight days clear
And twenty-nine in each leap year.
Excellent tune...and presented here, one of Stan's best metaphors for the value of faith in oneself (and in DADGAD and all!):
THE MARY ELLEN CARTER
She went down last October in a pouring driving rain.
The skipper, he'd been drinking and the Mate, he felt no pain.
Too close to Three Mile Rock, and she was dealt her mortal blow,
And the Mary Ellen Carter settled low.
There were five of us aboard her when she finally was awash.
We'd worked like hell to save her, all heedless of the cost.
And the groan she gave as she went down, it caused us to proclaim
That the Mary Ellen Carter would rise again.
Well, the owners wrote her off; not a nickel would they spend.
She gave twenty years of service, boys, then met her sorry end.
But insurance paid the loss to them, they let her rest below.
Then they laughed at us and said we had to go.
But we talked of her all winter, some days around the clock,
For she's worth a quarter million, afloat and at the dock.
And with every jar that hit the bar, we swore we would remain
And make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again.
Rise again, rise again, that her name not be lost
To the knowledge of men.
Those who loved her best and were with her till the end
Will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again.
All spring, now, we've been with her on a barge lent by a friend.
Three dives a day in hard hat suit and twice I've had the bends.
Thank God it's only sixty feet and the currents here are slow
Or I'd never have the strength to go below.
But we've patched her rents, stopped her vents, dogged hatch and
porthole down.
Put cables to her, 'fore and aft and birded her around.
Tomorrow, noon, we hit the air and then take up the strain.
And watch the Mary Ellen Carter Rise Again.
For we couldn't leave her there, you see, to crumble into scale.
She'd saved our lives so many times, living through the gale
And the laughing, drunken rats who left her to a sorry grave
They won't be laughing in another day. . .
And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.
Rise again, rise again - though your heart it be broken
And life about to end
No matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend.
Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.
McTag, I grew up with this family invention: First you make a fist. Then, start counting from your index knuckle, January, (touch the space between your fingers for February, and continue.) When you get to your pinky knuckle, just go back to the index finger knuckle and continue until you reach December. All the kuckles have 31 days, all the inbetweens 30 save February, which we were supposed to memorize, regarding 28 days and 29, like we were Jedi or something
It's a fun trick...
McTag wrote:.
I would like to know if there is an American word equivalent to 'anglophile', that is, a word meaning 'having a love of America and things American'
I always thought anglophile meant 'having a love of all things British'!
Have I been wrong? Well, I could look it up.
Main Entry: An·glo·phile
Pronunciation: 'a[ng]-gl&-"fIl
Variant(s): also An·glo·phil /-"fil/
Function: noun
Etymology: French, from anglo- + -phile
Date: 1883
: one who greatly admires or favors England and things English
- Anglophile or An·glo·phil·ic /"a[ng]-gl&-'fi-lik/ adjective
I know alot of Anglophiles here in the US. And it doesn't limit itself to just the Beatles and Shakespeare.
Cav - is Simone yer sister or somethin'? That's exactly how we figured out how many days in a year. Counting up and down our knuckles.
I was going to post something a while ago, asking if you know her, or were related. Now, I know.
Yikes! I just remembered - one of her brothers is a chef! He used to work at the Royal York. Is it you?
fealola - i thought MickeyTag was lookin' for a word that meant lover of stuff American, as anglophile means lover of Brit-stuff.
ehBeth wrote:fealola - i thought MickeyTag was lookin' for a word that meant lover of stuff American, as anglophile means lover of Brit-stuff.
That is correct, ehBeth. Sorry I didn't make myself clear.
So, is there a word that looks like American-ophile, with that sort of meaning?
McT
Oh! I get you now! Silly me! That's a good question!
Haven't heard of one. Let's think. 0r- We could make one up!
ehBeth, as soon as I know who Simone is, I'll let you know...I knew a Simone Bassett in high school, that's the best I can do. Pretty girl, as I recall...I have no sisters, and no Simones in the family....
Vivien- sorry I covered your post, I didn't check back carefully enough. Still, you were first!
It's not in the Merriam Webster Dictionary, but if you google the word:
Americaphile
-you will get 4 pages of links to the usage of the word
