On Possums and Proverbs
Another reason I think my sister maybe ought to be blogging...
That's an email she sent me this morning.No previous conversation prompted it, no discussion of proverbs or weasels. But possums (opossums not brushtail possums) are something of a running joke in my family. Everyone is thoroughly amused at the fact that possums scare me to death. Because of their tails, their walk, their grease, their shiny little eyes, and the fact that they bare their teeth and dangle their tongues when they play dead. Yuck. Winslow, my 11 year old cousin, regularly calls me possum boy, and the chances that my Christmas present this year will be possum-related are extremely high.
According to a footnote in Henry IV, 'weasels are proverbially
quarrelsome.' I wonder... are possums proverbially greasy? If reference
to possums are found in proverbs, how do you think they would be
described? I like the idea of claiming something to be 'proverbially blank'
as if proverbs were a great source of authority... I can hear someone
adding to a conversation about seeing a weasel attack
something... 'Well, I'm sure you know, weasels are proverbially
quarrelsome...' Maybe i also just like the look of 'proverbially
quarrelsome,' though saying it out loud is a mouthful. I guess I like
the nonsense of it.
That's an email she sent me this morning.No previous conversation prompted it, no discussion of proverbs or weasels. But possums (opossums not brushtail possums) are something of a running joke in my family. Everyone is thoroughly amused at the fact that possums scare me to death. Because of their tails, their walk, their grease, their shiny little eyes, and the fact that they bare their teeth and dangle their tongues when they play dead. Yuck. Winslow, my 11 year old cousin, regularly calls me possum boy, and the chances that my Christmas present this year will be possum-related are extremely high.
