"And/Then I'm the Queen of England"

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:28 AM -0500 11/18/05, bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>"I'M THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND"--2,990 Google hits
>...
>Outgoing, two-term Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields is
>going to New Orleans to help its recovery. A non-friendly website,
>www.virginiafields.com, states: "God Save New Orleans." In a recent
>NY Post article, Virginia Fields said that "I'm an expert in
>government efficiency."
>...
>I had to laugh. And I'm the Queen of England.
>...
>Fifteen years ago, after Gerald Cohen and I solved "the Big Apple"
>and traced it to New Orleans, I went to the Manhattan Borough
>President's office...it's a long story.
>...
>Has anyone done the "Queen of England" phrase?
>...
>...

and then there are all the variants, e.g. "And I'm Marie (the Queen)
of Rumania", as in the Dorothy Parker quatrain

               Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
               A medley of extemporanea;
               And love is a thing that can never go wrong;
               And I am Marie of Roumania.

and even if I'm not Arnold, I'll link to a Languge Log blog by Mark
Liberman on the pragmatic force of the construction illustrated here:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000414.html

larry

>(NEWSPAPERARCHIVE)
>...
>  The Chronicle TelegramSaturday, January 03, 1987 Elyria, Ohio
>...like, "If you're a genius THEn I'M THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND." THE
>notion that a.....don't take THEm seriously. Besides, I'M a
>psychologist. I can be crazy if I..
>...
>
>  The Oakland TribuneMonday, October 07, 1963 Oakland, California
>...guys are THE New Yort Yankees, I'M THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND "I first
>began to.....I don't know what his real name is but I'M betting it's
>got to be THEre's no..