Hornswaggler | The culture, the humor, a bit of the sports, not so much the politics, and the workplace distraction
Hornswaggle is an alternate spelling of
hornswoggle, an archaic word that means to bamboozle or hoodwink. I take my
pronunciation from the late Harvey Korman in "Blazing Saddles" --
"I want rustlers, cutthroats, murderers,
bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits,
vipers, snipers, conmen, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers,
buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswagglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train
robbers, bank robbers, ass kickers, shit kickers and Methodists!"
I understand why a lot of people dislike Dave Matthews Band, or the idea of the band. I don't happen to share that opinion. Even though I don't really listen to them anymore or buy new albums, the fact remains that Dave Matthews has written a ton of good songs: "Song That Jane Likes," "Warehouse," "Two Step," etc.
That said, the great irony about Dave Matthews for me is that the two dominant themes of his early songs were carpe diem and nonconformity ("Ants Marching," "Lie in our Graves," "One Sweet World," "Recently"). Yet the band's audience at concerts is a sea of white yuppies who look about as different from one another as the protagonists in "March of the Penguins," and the only thing they're seizing is the glass bowl they stuffed in their Hanes boxer briefs on the way into the show.
