snakes and peas

[Wilson Gray]

On May 3, 2004, at 11:32 AM, Mark A. Mandel wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mark A. Mandel" <mamandel at LDC.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: snakes and peas
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> Barry wrote:
>
>>>>
> CROOKED AS A BARREL OF SNAKES
>
>    The lodge where I stayed in Namibia had a snake farm.  I didn't see
> any barrels.
>    A snake might be crooked, by why would the barrel be?
>         <<<
>
> For the same reason a barrel is fun when it's full of monkeys: it's not
> the object of the comparison, but the measure of the object.
          <<<

   It may help to clarify the point of the saying to add that "Barrel of
Monkeys" is also a commercially-produced children's game reputed to be
a lot of fun to play.

>
>>>>
> PEAS WITH A KNIFE
>         <<<
>
> A rhyme I remember from my childhood.  I think I read it rather than
> hearing it:
>
>         I eat my peas with honey.
>         I've done it all my life.
>         They do taste kind of funny
>         But it keeps them on my knife.
>
> My sister and I used to sing it to a tune I made up.
>
> -- Mark A. Mandel
> [This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.]
>