re left, left, left my wife etc.

[James A. Landau]

On Mon 02/19/07 12:10 AM Judith Marie <Judith_H_Marie at COMPUSERVE.COM> wrote:

>Hi, I'm a new member and thrilled to find you.. I found out about your
>organization when I was searching for the exact words to the old
>marching ditty: "Left, left, left my wife, etc."

There are no "exact words".  It is a folk chant that has numerous variations and no "official" version.

The version used when I was in Basic Training at Fort Knox in 1969 was:
     I left my wife and seventeen children in starving condition
     with nothing but gingerbread left.
A friend who has never been in the military tells me there is an Irish version which adds "...left...and I ask if you think I am right."

I must congratulate you on being a brand new member yet already having picked up the habit most list-members have of writing between 12:05 and 12:10 AM.


Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> on Mon 02/19/07 at, surprise!, 12:10 AM wrote:

>I've heard and read this little legend told about rustic military
>recruits in every war from the American Revolution (with a German drill
>master) through WWII.
>
>What I've always found amusing is the subtle tribute the legend pays to
>the SAVY [sic] of the recruits, able to differentiate hay from straw--an
>abiilty certainly not shared by their cosmopolitan fellows.

I heard the story back in Louisville KY in the 1950's, told about recruits for Washington's army.

The next time you mow your lawn, tie some grass clippings to your left shoe.  Now open a box of soda straws and tie some to your right shoe.  No problem telling them apart, is there?  Hay is simply dried grass, and straw is the tubular stalks of grain.  Once you know this, it's easy to tell them apart.  The difference is something anyone from a farm would find obvious, similar to being able to distinguish between a sheep and a goat, or between wheat and maize.  The equivalent for a city slicker would be telling the difference between asphalt and concrete.  The story does not compliment the "savvy" of the rustics but rather denigrates them by requiring something so obvious as hay and straw for them to tell their feet apart.

Different topic.  John Baker on Mon 02/19/07 at, when else, 12:10 AM writes:

>Blackjack can actually have an edge to the gambler, when the gambler counts
>cards, but casinos have taken steps to make this difficult.

Sometimes this gets very messy.  Card counters wait until the odds favor them and then elbow their way to the table, to the detriment of decorum on the casino floor.  The one time I was ever empaneled for a jury was for a card counter who sued a casino for throwing him out.  (Case was settled out of court after opening statements.)  Incidentally, in the voir dire neither side bothered to ask the jurors if they understood blackjack and card counting.

     - Jim Landau (who will be staying up tonight until 11:00 to watch Studio 60 but who will be long in bed by 12:10 AM)

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