God only gave me two hands. The rest he gave to the Indians.

[Laurence Horn]

At 6:59 PM -0400 8/4/08, Andrea Morrow wrote:
>Maybe this is from an old song?
>
>God only gave me two hands
>The rest he gave to the Indians
>
>Both lines could be put into a 3/4 meter.  And "hands" could certainly be
>made to rhyme with "Indians."
>
>Andrea

Maybe, but as noted there are no g-hits for the couplet, which would
be somewhat unusual for song lyrics.  Maybe a really obscure,
unpopular song?

LH

>
>On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 6:14 PM, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  -----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
>>  Subject:      Re: God only gave me two hands. The rest he gave to the
>>  Indians.
>>
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  FWIW, I doubt that Asian religion has (or ever had) anything to do
>>  with it. You can (sometimes) do two different things with two hands,
>>  like handing someone the milk while continuing to stir the soup. But
>>  that's all you've got.
>>
>>  (Unless you're the circus family wife in the Charles Addams cartoon:
>>  "Wait a minute, can't you? I've only got three hands."
>>  In The New Yorker, June 20, 1942
>>
>>
>>http://www.docstoc.com/docs/389168/US-Copyright-Renewals-1969-July---December-by-US-Copyright-Office
>>  )
>>
>>  --
>>  Mark Mandel
>>
>>  On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 12:00 PM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu>
>>  wrote:
>>  >
>>  > Though I've never heard this, I wonder whether Indians here means
>>  American or
>>  > South Asian Indians. If the latter, might it refer to depictions of
>>  > Shiva or of
>>  > Buddha as many-handed?
>>  >
>>  > Stephen
>>
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