I realize I just posted like an hour ago, but then I got "Truly Scrumptious" stuck in my head and I started thinking about all the vocabulary words I learned just from that one song. I'm posting the lyrics here, because they're so adorable, and I've loved this song since I was, like, 6 years old. And it really did teach me good vocabulary! Plus, I love the rhyme "delicious" with "our wishes." It taught me a little something about poetry, too, I guess. "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" (The Musical!) is coming to Dallas this summer, and we have to go. I cannot forget or decide to be lazy. Please, friends, remind me that I want to do this or I will regret it!
Toot sweets sound like what they are
So do lollys in a lollypop jar
Gingerbread men have a gingerbread sound, we've found
Sugar plum cinnamon and lemon tart
Tell you what they are right from the start
And your name does the same for you
By coincidence, Truly Scrumptious,
You're truly, truly scrumptious
Scrumptious as a cherry peach parfait
When your near us, it's so delicious
Honest, Truly, you're the answer to our wishes
Truly Scrumptious,
Though we may seem presumptuous
Never, never, ever go away
Our hearts beat so unruly
Because we love you truly
Honest, Truly, we do.
Truly scrumptious,
You two are truly scrumptious.
Scrumptious as the breeze across the bay
When you're smiling, it's so delicious
So beguiling - you're the answer to my wishes
Truly scrumptious,
You two are truly scrumptious
And I shan't forget this lovely day.
My heart beats so unruly
I also love you truly
Honest, truly, I do
Monday, January 12, 2009
First Day of Class Again
I had my first day of class for this semester: Contemporary American Novel. There is a list of 13 books, most of which have won the Pulitzer in the last few years. Everyone in the class was talking about how they had already read like nine of the books on the list. I have read exactly one book on the list. And I read it last semester. But who wants to read Pulitzer Prize-winning novels when you can be reading "Twilight" instead?
So, in class, my professor asked the rhetorical question, "What was the first book printed in the West?" Meaning, Western Civilization, not the American West. The girl next to me was like, "The Bible?" I said, "The Fall of Troy," because being so close-minded as I am, I always take West to mean England because really that's where all the good stuff happened. And I actually placed my little grubby hands on a first edition of the Fall of Troy last semester at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, so yeah, I kind of know that's the first book ever printed in England. You can imagine my astonishment, then, when my professor proceeds to answer his own question saying, "Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur." WHAAAAT?!? That is just not true. He is just plain wrong. I wrote my Master's thesis on that book, and it was not the first book printed in England, much less the entire West. No, no, no. Maybe if by "book" he meant "novel" you might have an argument, but even that issue is hotly contested (well, you know, as hot as those contests get). What should I have done? Should I have corrected him so the room full of my fellow grad students would not be grossly misinformed? I'll tell you what I did do. I turned to the girl next to me and whispered, "That's not true!" in a scandalized voice and then just stopped listening.
So, in class, my professor asked the rhetorical question, "What was the first book printed in the West?" Meaning, Western Civilization, not the American West. The girl next to me was like, "The Bible?" I said, "The Fall of Troy," because being so close-minded as I am, I always take West to mean England because really that's where all the good stuff happened. And I actually placed my little grubby hands on a first edition of the Fall of Troy last semester at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, so yeah, I kind of know that's the first book ever printed in England. You can imagine my astonishment, then, when my professor proceeds to answer his own question saying, "Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur." WHAAAAT?!? That is just not true. He is just plain wrong. I wrote my Master's thesis on that book, and it was not the first book printed in England, much less the entire West. No, no, no. Maybe if by "book" he meant "novel" you might have an argument, but even that issue is hotly contested (well, you know, as hot as those contests get). What should I have done? Should I have corrected him so the room full of my fellow grad students would not be grossly misinformed? I'll tell you what I did do. I turned to the girl next to me and whispered, "That's not true!" in a scandalized voice and then just stopped listening.
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