[Ads-l] rebel yell and yeehaw

[Jonathan Lighter]

Not to beat a dead steed, but Georgia poet and CW veteran Sidney Lanier's
romantic description of "a" rebel yell is early and evocative. (Much of his
1867 novel _Tiger-Lilies_ is vastly, vastly more overwritten than this,
from p. 171:)

"From the right of the ragged line now comes up a single long cry, as from
the leader of a pack of hounds who has found the game. The cry has in it
the uncontrollable eagerness of a sleuth-hound, together with a dry harsh
quality that conveys an uncompromising hostility. It is the irresistible
outflow of some fierce soul immeasurably enraged....It is a howl, a hoarse
battle-cry, a cheer, and a congratulation, all in one."

"Hounds" and "howling" sound the keynote, as with the Gettysburg vets
recorded above.

JL


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

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