Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire! (1970)

[Dennis R. Preston]

That's why I prefer "Nose as long as a telephone wire"

The whole thing scans as follows:

X X X x X
X x X x X x X

LAR LAR PANTS on FAR

NOSE as LONGS a TEL phone WAR

4 beats per line.

Nace.

dInIs





>At 7:17 AM -0400 9/9/03, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>>L,
>>
>>Careful with this scanning stuff. Remember there are some of use who
>>have monosyllabic "wire" and "liar." (Surely not my Milwaukee wife
>>however!)
>>
>>dInIs
>
>Liar, liar, pants on fire
>Nose is longer than a copper telephone wire
>
>--monosyllabic "liar", "fire" and "wire" doesn't help.  Now if
>"copper" and "telephone" are monosyllabic too, you're talking
>scansion.  The versions below without "copper" would be fine
>(metrically), or the copper-free version we began with.
>
>>
>>>At 2:54 PM -0400 9/8/03, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>>>>>I prefer my wife's, at least for the traditional association of long
>>>>>noses and liars (which at least gives me a reading).
>>>>
>>>>dInIs
>>>
>>>another possibility via google (which favors the Preston household
>>>version, with the slight variants "your nose is longer than a
>>>telephone wire", as well as the footloose "nose is longer than a
>>>copper telephone wire", which scans worse than Ogden Nash) is the
>>>nicely graphic
>>>
>>>"...hang them up on a telephone wire"
>>>"...hanging from a telephone wire"
>>>
>>>But I agree that the nose-length one is more semantically motivated,
>>>besides which I'm not sure why one would drape a burning pair of
>>>trousers over the telephone wire, even if copper is a good insulator.
>>>Did the prevarication/nose length correlation antedate Pinocchio, I
>>>wonder?
>>>
>>>L
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>  The full form (as I am told by mu wife, Milwaukee, childhood memory
>>>>>>  from early 50s) is
>>>>>>
>>>>>>  Liar, liar, pants on fire
>>>>>>  Nose as long as a telephone wire.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>  Us Louisvillians had no such pome.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>The version I remember (I was an Army brat, so I can't localize it, but
>>>>>the time would be the mid-'60s) had, as the second line, "Can't get over
>>>>>the telephone wire".
>>>>>
>>>>>Jim Parish
>>>>
>>>>--
>>>>Dennis R. Preston
>>>>University Distinguished Professor
>>>>Department of Linguistics & Germanic, Slavic,
>>>>      Asian & African Languages
>>>>Michigan State University
>>>>East Lansing, MI 48824-1027
>>>>e-mail: preston at msu.edu
>>>>phone: (517) 432-3099
>>
>>--
>>Dennis R. Preston
>>University Distinguished Professor
>>Department of Linguistics & Germanic, Slavic,
>>      Asian & African Languages
>>Michigan State University
>>East Lansing, MI 48824-1027
>>e-mail: preston at msu.edu
>>phone: (517) 432-3099

--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of Linguistics & Germanic, Slavic,
      Asian & African Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027
e-mail: preston at msu.edu
phone: (517) 432-3099