Way OT: "Mademoiselle from Armentieres"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Thank you, Kate.

I have seen more than 500 verses, but not that one!  Is there any more to
it than that?

JL


On Sat, Aug 2, 2014 at 1:25 PM, Spanbock/Svoboda-Spanbock <
spanbocks at verizon.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Spanbock/Svoboda-Spanbock <spanbocks at VERIZON.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Way OT: "Mademoiselle from Armentieres"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I knew a few verses back in the 1970's. I remember one about not being =
> able to propose to her properly because the singer could no longer bend =
> his knee.
>
> My recollection was that the whole thing was a kind of joke about the =
> fact that she was unattractive but they were after her anyway, being =
> starved for comfort - like that later song about army food, whatever it =
> was? The biscuits in the army, they say they're mighty fine...?
>
> --
> Kate
>
> On Aug 2, 2014, at 6:01 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header =
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Way OT: "Mademoiselle from Armentieres"
> > =
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> -----
> >=20
> > Am finishing a pedantic study of this once-famous WW1 song, which I
> > mentioned here many years ago.
> >=20
> > I was surprised recently when a somewhat younger colleague admitted to
> > having heard the name at one point but knew nothing whatever beyond =
> that.
> > Nothing.
> >=20
> > OK, silly question: does the song or the name have any particular
> > associations for members of this distinguished forum? (Beyond the fact =
> that
> > the Mlle. hadn't been kissed in 40 years.)
> >=20
> > The popular image is/was that, being French, she was some kind of sex
> > kitten.  Yet the only verse most people know suggests the opposite.
> >=20
> > I'm interested in the Mademoiselle as Rohrschach test. The song was a =
> big
> > deal 100 years ago and was frequently commented on in the postwar =
> press.
> > Has it any resonance left?  Does anyone here know more than the =
> best-known
> > stanza? (There once were many.)
> >=20
> > If the subject is too far afield for the list, email me.
> >=20
> > JL
> >=20
> > --=20
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the =
> truth."
> >=20
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>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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