What’s in a rhyme
Something happened last week that gave me a great deal of anxiety.
Just before going to sleep, the words, 无毛视频淪tep on a crack and break your mother无毛视频檚 back,无毛视频� popped into my head.
That set off a flurry of thoughts about the origin of that phrase, and its lack of a meaningful interpretation.
To be honest, there无毛视频檚 never been any proof that a mother无毛视频檚 back had been broken because somebody stepped on a crack.
To be even more honest, even though I first heard that teensy-weensy rhyme when I was a small child, I still avoid cracks on sidewalks 无毛视频� as if they无毛视频檒l break my mother无毛视频檚 (who died in the 1980s) back.
Do you?
Having that couplet flood my head at bedtime gave me a late-night obsession for remembering more rhymes we learned over the years that are part of our common, American existence.
That caused a problem.
Since it was bedtime, I didn无毛视频檛 have a pencil and paper nearby.
So, with each new rhyme I recalled, I felt the anxiety of remembering stuff I无毛视频檇 surely forget when I woke up in the morning.
Suddenly, I was desperately trying to not think myself to sleep. Have you ever tried that?
Without warning, the words, 无毛视频淔inders, keepers, losers, weepers,无毛视频� bubbled to the surface.
For me, that无毛视频檚 an uneven assessment.
Shouldn无毛视频檛 the loser weep, before the finder keeps?
Just a thought.
无毛视频淪leep tight. Don无毛视频檛 let the bed bugs bite.无毛视频�
I无毛视频檝e never seen a bed bug. I wouldn无毛视频檛 know what to do to prevent one from biting me.
Childhood presented us with what seems to have been endless, and meaningless, rhymes.
无毛视频淗e无毛视频檚 a poet, and don无毛视频檛 know it,无毛视频� has a certain hollow literary flare to it.
无毛视频淎n apple a day keeps the doctor away无毛视频� meant a lot to me when I was a preteen. I无毛视频檓 a septuagenarian. I无毛视频檓 not hoping to keep doctors away these days. So, I don无毛视频檛 eat many apples.
无毛视频淚 made you look, you dirty crook. You stole your mama无毛视频檚/mother无毛视频檚 pocketbook,无毛视频� was the only part of that rhyme I learned in my youth.
I was unaware there was more to that story of unparalleled thuggery.
The words, 无毛视频淵ou turned it in. You turned it out. You turned it into sauerkraut,无毛视频� were new to me.
You live and learn, I suppose.
Moving on.
Tell me, (I know you can无毛视频檛, but humor me): Did you really scream for ice cream?
You know, 无毛视频淚 scream. You scream. We all scream for ice cream.无毛视频�
I无毛视频檝e never screamed for ice cream. My wife, Terry, knows that I might sit up and cheer for a bowlful of ice cream with pralines in it.
When I first started thinking about these rhymes, I suspected that many of them were colloquial phrases we may have only had in Uniontown. So, I started typing them into Google. I was surprised that all of them would 无毛视频渁utocomplete无毛视频� after a couple words, thus lending to their universality.
For instance, with the words, 无毛视频淚无毛视频檓 rubber. You无毛视频檙e glue,无毛视频� Google would autocomplete, 无毛视频測our words bounce off me and stick to you.无毛视频�
There无毛视频檚 never been any evidence of words bouncing off anything. But that无毛视频檚 a rather interesting phrase, isn无毛视频檛 it?
The fact that people in far reaches of the country understand such a meaningless set of words makes it even more interesting.
Of course, there无毛视频檚 one set of childhood rhymes, I无毛视频檇 call the 无毛视频淕randdaddy of Them All.无毛视频� Here goes: 无毛视频淥ne, two, buckle my shoe. Three, four, shut the door. Five, six, pick up sticks. Seven, eight, lay them straight. Nine, ten, a big, fat hen,无毛视频� is etched into the memories of gazillion kids who无毛视频檝e learned how to count to 10.
(I still can无毛视频檛 count much past 10.)
None of these have been what is called nursery rhymes like, 无毛视频淗ickory, Dickory dock. The mouse ran up the clock 无毛视频ξ廾悠禎
They无毛视频檙e just things we无毛视频檝e said, or heard, that, for some reason, kept me up late last week.
And not all couplets appeared in my youth.
One I无毛视频檝e heard well into my adulthood that puzzles me is 无毛视频淪hop 无毛视频檛il you drop.无毛视频�
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 50-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.