....the lion

[Peter Richardson]

The only explanation has to be that this person had been involved in a
holiday limerick contest, the kind in which each person is given a rhyme
word for line 1 and has to supply the rest. So the word was obviously
"broccolis," and Androcoles was the match for line 5. Probably line 2 had
an aberration of Sophocles to go with the rest. Something like this, in
other words:

While tasting her holiday broccolis,
My wife was reminded of Sophocles--
Not laughin', not cryin',
Not sittin', but lyin' (lion),
Which should have engendered Androcoles.

Peter R.

On Mon, 30 Dec 2002, Barnhart wrote:

> I just heard on NPR Androcles pronounced as an'drah kuh leez.  I
> haven't consulted very many sources yet.  But, WM, AHD4, ACD, NCCN, and
> RH do not show a variant to what I have always said... 'an druh kleez.
> Where did the intrusive syllable come from...a typo?