BORROWED WISDOM

 I was reading old entries and came across this long one.  Those of you with short attention spans will wince and turn away.  If you do. you're missing some good stuff.  I really use to stuff these entries full of ...  Here it is:  (some of the references are dated)

10/02/2016

DOUBLE TROUBLE

My llama named Lloyd lloves to llinger llonger in the llush llowlands.  (Once you get going it's hard to stop.)

What the "L" ?  Is there any other double consonant that is used at the beginning of an English language word?
Vowels, of course:  aardvark, eerie, oodles - but no other consonants.

Twins can be two boys or two girls or one of each.  Some twins are identical and some are not.  Looking alike has nothing to do with it.  Horses and cows very seldom have twins.  Dogs and Cats most often have more than two in a litter. Why in the world do we use the same word for wrongly discarded trash as we do multiple births?

The two-step is a dance move usually found in folk and country-western dances.  You move the same foot in the same direction twice in a row.  I guess that makes less for the country folk to remember.

In baseball, if you get to second on your hit, we call it a double.  If you make it all the way around the bases, shouldn't we call it a quadruple or a double-double?

Are Mary-Kate and Ashley the most famous twins right now?  Not for me.  I choose Romulus and Remus or the D'Varga boys.

Is a bird in the hand really worth two in the bush?

A double shot at the bar could be 2-1/2 to 3 ounces of booze.  A double shot at Starbucks could be espresso or coffee.  In either case, you can get lit up on it.

You know that God made us with two eyes and two ears but only one mouth so that we would look and listen twice as often as we speak.

Now, my favorite 'double trouble'.  This is a scene from Shakespeare's great tragedy, Macbeth.  It takes place in a dark cave.  Only three witches are present and they are seated around a fire-heated cauldron.  Read this aloud.  Hear the poetry in the prose.  He was genius.  Keep going even if there are words you don't recognize.  This is the way Shakespeare wrote it.  Modern versions change the words to those more recognizable.

#1  Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
#2  Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin'd
#3  Harpier cries:  'tis time!  'tis time!
#1  Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw,
-toad that under cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one;
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!
All  Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
#2  Fillet of a fenny snake,
in the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,
-for a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
All  Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
#3  Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
Witches' mummy; maw and gulf
Of ravin'd salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew,
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe,
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab;
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.
All  Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
#2  Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

I love it.
o) o)