Rhymes with "orange"

[Jim Parish]

John Baker wrote:
>         Arnold is, of course, correct, although the porringer rhyme's
> survival for centuries shows that there are at least some speakers for
> whom that construction is acceptable.  As a demonstration that a rhyme
> exists, however, I think that "burp'll" is conclusive (albeit
> unnecessary, in light of the existence of "sherpal," as Larry pointed
> out).  "Prince of Orange her" does indeed play fast and loose with the
> nonexistent ground rules, since a rhyme is achieved only by adding a
> word to the word to be rhymed.

As long as we're breaking rules, there's always Glenn Campbell's bit of
nonsense:
"Roses are red, and violets are purple,
 Sugar is sweet, and so's maple surple"

(Don't remember which song that's from; "Dang Me", maybe?)

Jim Parish


>
> John Baker
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of Arnold M. Zwicky
> Sent: Monday, May 01, 2006 12:07 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Rhymes with "orange"
>
> On May 1, 2006, at 8:36 AM, John Baker wrote:
>
> >         For orange, at least, there's a classic nursery rhyme:
> >
> > What is the rhyme for porringer?
> > What is the rhyme for porringer?
> > The king he had a daughter fair
> > And gave the Prince of Orange her.
> >
>
> > ....        In addition to orange and silver, purple is a third
> > color that
> > is traditionally considered unrhymable, but Louis Sachar came up with
> > this clever rhyme in Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger:
> >
> > The baby won't stop crying.
> > His face is turning purple.
> > Will anything make him feel better?
> > I bet a burp'll.
>
> more instances of needing to be clear about the rules of the game.
> the last lines of both verses are unacceptable for most modern english
> speakers, though they have substructures that are fine in other versions
> or in other contexts.
>
> the first has a double-object construction (with the first object
> referring to the recipient of the transfer, the second to the thing
> transferred).  the construction is famous for being unacceptable when
> the first object is nonpronominal and the second is a personal pronoun,
> as in the verse.  "and gave the Prince of Orange his daughter" is fine,
> though.
>
> the second has Auxiliary Reduction (here, "contraction" of "will") in a
> Verb Phrase Ellipsis context, the most famous context that disallows AR
> for most people.  "i bet a burp'll help", is fine, though.
>
> this is entertaining play, but not quite fair.
>
> arnold
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org