on the excretory practices of American eagles

Charles Doyle cdoyle at UGA.EDU
Fri Jan 26 13:01:59 UTC 2007


I have often heard "squeeze (or pinch) a nickel till the buffalo shits" (the phrase merits a handful of Google hits). The aquiline version, obviously, results from inflation; EVERYTHING is higher now.

Not that the following remark is directly relevant--but, then, how often does one get an opportunity to talk some about eagle shit? When I was a child, those delicious store-boughten cookies, a small wafer of shortbread (or something) topped with a hemisphere of marshmallow and the whole thing covered with firm chocolate, were known as "eagle turds." I wonder if that was just somebody's local witticism?

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----

>Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 20:24:02 -0500
>From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>Subject: on the excretory practices of American eagles
>
>Today, my wife reports, a rather obnoxious hard-sell woman in charge of the showroom at a kitchen installation place here in Hamden, CT tried to assure her that (despite all the high-end options they were pushing) their operation really *is* concerned about keeping costs within reason.  "We know how to give you the most bang for your buck", she promised. "We're gonna squeeze the eagle until it poops." This was a new one on my wife (who wasn't particularly taken with the metaphor) and a new one one me too, although I'm familiar with the couplet from "Nobody knows you when you're down and out", the classic Depression era song (by Yip Harburg?) recorded by everyone from Bessie Smith to Eric Clapton--
>
>"If I ever get my hands on a dollar again,
>I'm gonna squeeze it till the eagle grins".
>
>But is the pooping version extant outside this particular kitchen store?  And do those E Pluribus eagles engage in other activities when squeezed in other parts of the country?
>
>LH
>

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