It takes a worried man to sing a worried song . . .

. . . I’m worried now, but I won’t be worried long

. . . and other tunes pop into the head.

Smile, darn ya, smile

Life is really only what you make it.
Step right up and show them you can take it.
Make life worthwhile.
Come on and smile, darn ya, smile!

Button up your overcoat

When the wind is free
Take good care of yourself
You belong to me

Down Argentine Way

You’ll find your life will begin
The very moment you’re in Argentina
If you’re romantic Senor
Then you will surely adore Argentina

They All Laughed

They all laughed at Christopher Columbus
When he said the world was round
They all laughed when Edison recorded sound

You sigh, a song begins . . .

You speak and I hear violins
It’s magic
The stars desert the skies
And rush to nestle in your eyes
It’s magic

Without a golden wand
Or mystic charms,
Fantastic things begin
When I am in your arms

Buckle Down, Winsocki

Buckle down, Winsocki
Buckle down
You can win, Winsocki
If you knuckle down
If you break their necks
If you make them wrecks
You can break the hex,
So buckle down,
Make ’em yell Winsocki, make ’em yell.

Anchors away

Stand Navy out to sea
Fight our battle cry
We’ll never change our course
So vicious foe steer shy-y-y-y
Roll out the TNT
Anchors aweigh
Sail on to victory
And sink their bones to Davy Jones, hooray

Let’s call the whole thing off.

Things have come to a pretty pass
Our romance is growing flat
‘Cause you like this and the other
While I go for this and that

Goodness knows what the end will be
Oh, I don’t know where I’m at
It’s plain to see we two will never make one
Something must be done

You say eether and I say eyether
You say neether, I say nyther
Eether, eyether, neether, nyther
Let’s call the whole thing off

You like potato and I like po-tah-to
You like tomato and I like to-mah-to
Potato, po-tah-to, tomato, to-mah-to
Oh, let’s call the whole thing off

Enough for now.

The Comma: “When in Doubt, Leave it Out” (Don’t We Wish!)

The comma question . . .

Jim Bowman's avatarBlithe Spirit

Something I heard from my father (born 1895), which he had been taught at mostly public schools on West Side of Chi (two years at Presentation, 7th and 8th grades), which comes to my mind regularly or used to.

Once I taught grammar to frosh at St. Ignatius HS Chi and Loyola Academy Wilmette (note my leaving commas out*), I had the various uses down cold.

So does this writer, who has a very good site.

via Gone Writing

* FYI: Leaving them out in this case is a matter of blogspeak, not to be emulated in other kids of writing. Verb sat sap.

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Dialogue of the pill-disposers . . .

He to she: I have these pills I’ll be getting rid of. Shelf date violation.

She: Put them here (pointing to garbage).

He: Not the toilet?

She: No. Then they pollute the water supply.

He: My excrement doesn’t pollute the water supply?

She, heading for door: OK. I’m on my way.

Kiss, departure.

Bulls center Robin Lopez removed from chippy Monday practice

Breaking a code:

Either way, Boylen said practice got “very, very competitive” — code for chippy. At one point, Boylen had to send Lopez out of the gym for close to 10 minutes to cool down after a run-in with guard Kris Dunn.

Wait. Perfectly usable phrase requires de-coding by use of multi-meaning word that to some readers calls for its own de-coding.

To some. Happens all the time. There’s jargon for every field. Technical terms in some fields, lingo in others.

You gotta know the lingo to catch the drift. Follow?

Just sayin’.