Jock Elliott
Hall of Famer
- Location
- Troy, NY
Perhaps since there is a thread on "misspoken bits," I propose a thread on clever use of language.
I'll start the ball rolling with two incidents that tickled me.
The first: a survey of English literature course at college, taught by Townsend Rich, the archetypal tweedy English professor. He was always sharp, on-point, and funny. The 50 people jammed into the classroom had no trouble staying awake, always on the alert for the next mirthful aside.
In contrast to Prof. Rich was "John," an awkward lad who viewed the world from an angle none of us understood. Once a week John would raise his hand and ask a question that found a connection that was opaque to human reason. When John's hand went up, we groaned. Two weeks from the end of the semester, we were studying John Donne's poetry. John's hand went up: "Does this have anything to do with the Mayan sacrifice rites of the third dynasty?"
Prof. Rich thought for a moment, then said, "No, but I can see where someone like you might think something like that."
******
The second took place at a Tom Rush concert at the RPI student union a number of years ago. Tom was only a few songs into his set when a young man, obviously "in his cups," began yelling "Play Black Mountain Rag" after every song. This went on for quite a while.
Finally, after he yelled it again, Rush turned, looked right at the guy, and said: "I'll tell you what; this next song isn't Black Mountain Rag . . . but it has a lot of the same notes in it!"
Cheers, Jock
I'll start the ball rolling with two incidents that tickled me.
The first: a survey of English literature course at college, taught by Townsend Rich, the archetypal tweedy English professor. He was always sharp, on-point, and funny. The 50 people jammed into the classroom had no trouble staying awake, always on the alert for the next mirthful aside.
In contrast to Prof. Rich was "John," an awkward lad who viewed the world from an angle none of us understood. Once a week John would raise his hand and ask a question that found a connection that was opaque to human reason. When John's hand went up, we groaned. Two weeks from the end of the semester, we were studying John Donne's poetry. John's hand went up: "Does this have anything to do with the Mayan sacrifice rites of the third dynasty?"
Prof. Rich thought for a moment, then said, "No, but I can see where someone like you might think something like that."
******
The second took place at a Tom Rush concert at the RPI student union a number of years ago. Tom was only a few songs into his set when a young man, obviously "in his cups," began yelling "Play Black Mountain Rag" after every song. This went on for quite a while.
Finally, after he yelled it again, Rush turned, looked right at the guy, and said: "I'll tell you what; this next song isn't Black Mountain Rag . . . but it has a lot of the same notes in it!"
Cheers, Jock