Way OT: "Mademoiselle from Armentieres"

[Spanbock/Svoboda-Spanbock]

I just remember something like

"Oh, Mademoiselle, will you marry me?

I can't go down on a busted knee.

Hinky dinky etc."


On Aug 2, 2014, at 11:23 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Way OT: "Mademoiselle from Armentieres"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 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:
> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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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 =
>> -----------------------
>>> 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
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> 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."
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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