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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!" |
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Thursday, May 20, 2010Early birds"The early bird catches the worm," which apparently dates back to 17th-century England, is an enduring piece of pro-waking propaganda, but is the analogy really apt? Are habitual lateness and oversleeping actual problems in the avian community? Tardiness strikes me as a uniquely human foible. Bird No. 1: Dawn approaches! It is time for us to renew our daily struggle for survival. Come! Let us twitter and sing! Bird No. 2: No thanks. I'm just going to chill in the nest and slowly starve to death. I think the reality/dirty little secret is that all the birds arrive to catch worms at pretty much exactly the same time, and there's usually enough worms for all of them to eat. If not -- if the local population has begun to exceed its limits -- then intraspecies aggression, predation or even disease will take care of the problem. But that doesn't fit into your early-rising agitprop, does it, Ben Franklin? .: posted by hornswaggler 8:18 AM| |
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