Gary Condit Was Seen Throwing Somethin';
Off the Woodrow Wilson Bridge
Monday July 23, 2001
- TITLE: "Gary Condit Was Seen Throwing Somethin'; Off the Woodrow Wilson Bridge"
You have to sing this to the tune of "Ode to Billy Joe"a 1967 song written and performed by Bobbi Gentry.
The first line of the song was: "It was the third of June another sleepy, dusty, delta day,"
which is a pretty good lyric, even today.
Sing this: "... And she and Billy Joe was throwing somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge." Then sing the title,
and I'm sure you'll agree the title works.
"Ode to Billy Joe" was turned into a forgettable movie in 1976 which was directed by Max Baer, Jr. who was somewhat more famous for playing Jethro Bodine on "The Beverly Hillbillies."
- "
LA Times
" Here is the LA Times backgrounder on those Krazy Kondit Kids.
- "
Marty Meehan
" And, finally, here's the link to the Washington Post piece on Marty Meehan's woes by Tom Edsall.
- "
Hoist with his own
" From Hamlet, Act III, Scene IV.
Hamlet speaks:
For 'tis the sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petard: and 't shall go hard
But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at the moon: O, 'tis most sweet,
When in one line two crafts directly meet.
Depending upon whether you studied Hamlet in high school or grad school, this business of the "petard" was defined as (in the 1913 edition of Webster's):
"A case containing powder to be exploded, esp. a conical or cylindrical case of metal filled with powder and attached to a plank, to be exploded against and break down gates, barricades, drawbridges, etc."
Or, you were presented with the word's etymology:
"Middle French, from peter to break wind, from pet expulsion of intestinal gas, from Latin peditum, from neuter of peditus, past participle of pedere to break wind; akin to Greek bdein to break wind"
Which, even in grad school, led to much hilarity, wise-crackery, and invitations to pull upon index fingers
(Here! Hoist me on my own petard!).
The phrase now has come to mean, more or less, to be victimized or hurt by one's own scheme.
- Mullings' Catchy Caption of the Day:
President and Mrs. Bush, sightseeing in Rome, are unaware that Vincent
Schiavelli, reprising his role as John O'Conner in "Buckaroo Bonzai
across the 8th Dimension," is stalking them.
Photo: AP /Andrew Medichini
____________________________________________________________________________________
Home | Current Issue | Past Issues | Email Rich | Rich Who?
Copyright ©2001 Richard A. Galen | Site design by Campaign Solutions.
|
