This'n'That Wednesday

(Since This'n'That Tuesday seems to be on hiatus due to a case of Real Life...just some random literary bits)

A link to "The Road to Dictionopolis," an interview with Norton Juster about one of my favorite books in the world, The Phantom Tollbooth.

 Mondegreens

Just finished Richard Lederer's Bride of Anguished English, which I didn't know existed, another collection of English flubs and fluffs. As always there is a section on "Mondegreens," which are words/phrases which people have misheard (there's an entire collection of Mondegreens on the Web just to do with misheard song lyrics). Mondegreens are so called because of a woman who listened to an old ballad and misheard the line "and laid him on the Green" as "and Lady Mondegreen." Probably the most famous Mondegreen is that about the Sunday School child whose favorite hymn is about the ocularly-challenged ursine, "Gladly, the Cross-Eyed Bear" ("Gladly the Cross I'd Bear"), followed by the astute New York child who in saying the Lord's Prayer pleads for transit riders "Lead us not into Penn Station."

I've never seen my own Mondegreen anywhere: as a child I was always puzzled by the name for the gentleman or lady who signed a legal document and then put a seal on it. Why on earth did this function make the person a "Noted Republic"? The first time I actually looked up at the official-looking sign over DiLorenzo's Drug Store and saw the words "Notary Public" actually spelt out, I'm sure people could see the light bulb go on over my head. :-)

 Other Recent Reads

Fever 1793: Young adult book about the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia in the summer of 1793. Wow. Very realistic look at the sufferings of the victims and the fate of the city. Many of these "plucky young historical heroine" books read like a modern kid thrust into the past; Fever's Mattie seems more realistic than most.

Emergency Animal Rescue Stories: If you read Terri Crisp's Out of Harm's Way, about volunteers who help animals during disasters, this is a sequel. Crisp writes this one herself, rather than having a collaborator, and the writing isn't as good, but the stories are fascinating and in some cases will break your heart (the fate of the birds in the apartment building is particularly sad). Noticed some complaints over at Amazon.com about Crisp talking so much about the hardships of the volunteers: I think this might have been on purpose, as I'm sure Crisp's first book inspired many people to volunteer without first thinking of the types of conditions they'd have to endure. This time around she's making certain people know what a difficult and many times thankless job it is.

Ciao, America: Correspondent Beppe Severgnini and his wife spend a year in America, specifically in Georgetown. Amusing look by an Italian at the many absurdities of American life, plus his fondness for many of our luxuries.

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