tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post6767833131587175685..comments2024-03-28T14:05:25.134-07:00Comments on Sacnoth's Scriptorium: More Odd Lyrics (Similes)John D. Rateliffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12324926298336489295noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-31888876574745855352019-01-19T12:58:38.168-08:002019-01-19T12:58:38.168-08:00It is possible that the breadth of the Atlantic ha...It is possible that the breadth of the Atlantic has obscured the intended meaning of this comparison. On the Liverpool side of the ocean, I suspect the majority of readers would recognise in 'Richard the Third' neither an historical nor a literary reference, but instead a piece of Cockney rhyming slang.<br /><br />For 'Richard the Third' has the misfortune to rhyme with a less exalted item - a turd. (I don't know if even this vocabulary reaches across the Atlantic; I am referring to a stool - medically speaking - or a piece of faecal (US: fecal) matter.)<br /><br />The image is not of a hunchbacked king valiantly battling the waves, but rather of a lump of excrement floating down a gutter. Why this should arise in the context given I cannot say, and I do not propose to take enough magic mushrooms to find out.Clive Shergoldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03752328784605448119noreply@blogger.com