WORDS

Yesterday Professor Curzon talked about the many words, phrases and concepts have entered English from our involvement with sports, for instance:

Baseball

Jim hit a homerun with his new project.

Bill couldn't get to first base with Mary.

Football

Jim made a pass at that new lady.

Bill's business hit a snag and he had to punt.

Boxing

Jim thought that the new lady was a knockout.

Bill's business was in so much trouble that he had to throw in the towel.

Hockey

Jim made a hat trick with his three new innovations.

Bill suffered a penalty.

Basketball

Bill thought that making more money would be a slam dunk.

One from the British game of Cricket:

Bill's money problems created a sticky wicket.

I'm sure you can think of many more,

MAGIC!

I like song lyrics that actually rhyme, not like all those modern songs with lyrics like:

"Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!"

or

"Oh, Baby; Oh, Baby; Oh, Baby: etc"

Why didn't they take the time to create real rhyming lyrics?  Laziness, I'll bet.

How about this: 

"Old black magic has me in its spell

Old black magic that you weave so well

Those icy fingers up and down my spine

The same old witchcraft when your eyes met mine.

...

Down and down I go,

round and round I go

in a spin, loving the spin I'm in

Under that old black magic called love 

... "

I'll bet that these lyrics reflect the feelings you had when you first felt romantic love.  I know it did for me.

 This song was a work by two famous people'

Harold Arlan composed the music for over 500 songs, among which was "Over the Rainbow" for the Wizard of Oz 1939 movie.

Johnny Mercer wrote the words for over 1,000 songs in his lifetime.

Over the years many singers have recorded That Old Black Magic, such as:

Ella Fitzgerald

Rod Stewart

Frank Sinatra

And especially Keely Smith and Louis Prima. I highly recommend that you listen to their award-winning rendition of the song. Watch it on You Tube and see how much fun they had in that performance,  I love it! 

Funny!

I love a certain old joke that always makes me laugh out loud.  The latest Readers Digest published a version from watchuseet.com.  Here is my version:

Jim and Bill were in Jim's condo drinking and telling stories until the "wee hours," when Bill said, "I notice that you have a giant gong in your bedroom. What's it for?

Jim replied, "That's my clock."  

Bill said, "How could that gong be a clock?"

Jim said, "Watch" and he hit the gong with a big hammer and made an enormous din.

Immediately a voice yelled out from the next condo, "You SOB, it's three AM!"

My gong is Alexa.  She tells me the time whenever I ask her.

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