That's all right, then.

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Mon Oct 3 07:53:51 UTC 2011


I own the collected oeuvre of The Miracles. One side that I'm
unfamiliar with - it was probably the B side of some 45 that I didn't
like enough to buy, back in the day - has the title, "Choosy Beggar."
Over the years, I've wondered about this title, because _choicy_ is
the "standard" form in BE, appearing wherever _choosy_ would appear in
sE. Finally, after dekkids of wondering, I finally decided to play
this sound. It's openibg line is,

"I'm a _choicy_ beggar."

Whoever wrote the title may have been influenced by "Beggars can't be
choosy." Old saws usually can't be messed with. An exception is "To
each his own," which I first saw rewritten as "To each _their_ own,"
back in '72.

Those of a certain age may recall that, in addition to the old saw,
there was a real tear-jerker of a movie entitled "To Each His Own,"
starring Olivia DeHavilland, as well as a popular song entitled "To
Each is Own." There was a version by the Inkspots and one by a white
guy - Eddie Somebody? - that were quite popular in Saint Louis.

The exclamation, "Holy Canarsie!," occurred a zillion times in the
film and, for dekkids, I wondered WTF a _canarsie_ was. I eventually
found out. It's a kind of flatbush, I believe. Right, Joel?

--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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



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