Shep Schwab shopped at Scott's Schnapps shop; One shot of Scott's Schnapps stopped Schwab's watch.
That tongue twister won the grand prize in a contest in Games Magazine in 1979.
A tongue twister is defined as “a word or group of words difficult to articulate RAPIDLY, usually because of a succession of similar consonantal sounds, as in “Shall she sell seashells?” (Answers.com. “Tongue Twister.”) The key word in the definition is “RAPIDLY.” Tongue twisters are easy to articulate when said slowly; it is only when one speeds up the cadence that they become almost impossible to say without error.
Probably the most famous tongue twister is an easy one to articulate that begins as “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers….” The most difficult one to articulate rapidly is “The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick.” If you can say that three times very fast and without error all the way through, you have one of the smoothest tongues on earth.
Many years ago, after extensive practice, I mastered this tongue twister about a character named Esau Wood. It is often used in acting schools as an exercise in articulation. If the text is read in a monotone, it has little meaning, even though it is grammatically correct. The actor gives meaning to the text by placing the stress and emphasis on certain words in the sentence. To be successful, you must articulate the text rapidly from the beginning to the end with no errors and with pauses only to catch your breath.
"Esau Wood sawed wood. Esau Wood would saw wood. All the wood Esau Wood saw, Esau Wood would saw. In other words, all the wood Esau saw to saw, Esau sought to saw. Oh, the wood Wood would saw! And, oh the wood-saw with which Wood would saw wood!
"But one day, Wood's wood-saw would saw no wood, and thus the wood Wood sawed was not the wood Wood would saw if Wood's wood-saw would saw wood. Now, Wood would saw wood with a wood-saw that would saw wood, so Esau sought a saw that would saw wood.
"One day, Esau saw a saw saw wood as no other wood-saw Wood saw would saw wood. In fact, of all the wood-saws Wood ever saw saw wood, Wood never saw a wood-saw that would saw wood as the wood-saw Wood saw saw wood would saw wood, and I never saw a wood-saw that would saw as the wood-saw Wood saw would saw until I saw Esau Wood saw wood with the wood-saw Wood saw saw wood. Now Wood saws wood with the wood-saw Wood saw saw wood."
The following tongue twister is designed to make one say a word that might not be acceptable in all circles. Remember that you must articulate it RAPIDLY without pause from beginning to end.
I'm not the pheasant plucker, I'm the pheasant plucker's mate, And I'm only plucking pheasants 'cause the pheasant plucker's late. I'm not the pheasant plucker, I'm the pheasant plucker's son, And I'm only plucking pheasants till the pheasant pluckers come.
Video. Danny Kaye - Tongue Twisters (lip-sync). Watch this young man lip-sync the words from Danny Kaye's "Tongue Twisters" from a 1951 movie.
QUESTION: What are your favorite tongue twisters and have you mastered them?
You remember that $787 billion stimulus package, don’t you? Well, so far only about half of it has been spent, and already we are hearing demands from some quarters for an additional stimulus package. The New York Times in an article earlier this month said that "the PACKAGE WAS NOT BIG ENOUGH to completely offset the projected drop in the nation's economic output, which administration officials believed at the time would perform at $2 trillion below its capacity over the next two years.” The article further maintains that in this job-destroying recession, a $787 billion package is small change and that in order for the economy to fully recover, at least a $2 trillion package is needed.
With the current national debt hovering around $12 trillion, what is another trillion dollars or two?
Video. Stimulus Package Blues - Lance Brown w/ Remington Riders.
QUESTION: Would you like to have a bigger stimulus package?
At a time when some Obamaphobes have painted President Obama as less of an American than the rest of us and our other presidents, even labeling him as a Muslim with an allegiance to some other power, it is interesting to note what the records of his ancestry reveal.
Of the 44 Presidents of the United States, 22 of them have definite Irish ancestry. As you can see, Barack (Barry) O’Bama is one of them.
George Washington; James Madison; Andrew Jackson; James Polk; James Buchanan; Andrew Johnson; Ulysses S. Grant; Chester Arthur; Grover Cleveland; Benjamin Harrison
William McKinley; Theodore Roosevelt; Woodrow Wilson; John F. Kennedy; Richard Nixon; Gerald Ford; Jimmy Carter; Ronald Reagan; George H. Bush; William Clinton; George W. Bush
AND
Barack Obama -- Ancestry.com has confirmed that according to baptism and probate records Barack Obama’s Irish ancestors originated in Moneygall and neighboring Shinrone in County Offaly, Ireland.
Here is what the Belfast Telegraph reported in March of 2007:
Barrack Obama has an Irish great, great, great grandfather.
Obama, or as he may now be known, 'O'Bama', is a descendant of one Falmouth Kearney, who left famine-ravaged Ireland in 1850 and took a boat from Liverpool to New York. The revelation was uncovered by the subscription genealogy site, ancestry.com. The site includes a boarding document showing that Kearney arrived from Liverpool in New York and another document showing that he and his family later settled in Ohio.
According to the site, 19-year-old Falmouth Kearney landed in New York harbour on March 20, 1850, on board the SS Marmion. The site does not say what country Falmouth was from, or if that is even his real first name, but his surname is commonly associated with county Mayo. There is no further official documentation of his life until an 1860 US Federal Census, which shows that he was living in Ohio and working as a farm hand. He lived among Irish relatives and then married, had eight children and moved to India.
Three of his (Falmouth Kearney's) daughters married three brothers with the surname Durham. Barack Obama's mother is a direct descendant from one of her couples and she carried Durham as a maiden name.
Video. Barack Obama's Irish Roots. Barack Obama is yet another American President with an Irish bloodline .
Video. There’s No One As Irish as Barack Obama. Corrigan Brothers Late Late Show: 7th November 2008.
If you would prefer to sing along with the Corrigan Brothers, there is a humorous illustrated karaoke version of this song available at this link you can copy and paste at Google:
Once every other month, San Diego Hospice has an art show featuring on the walls of its long corridors the art works of various artists in the San Diego area. Last year while attending an art show there, my wife and I first met Baxter, one of the nine therapy dogs at the hospice.
A therapy dog is especially trained to give comfort and affection to individuals who are approaching the end of their life. To be chosen as a therapy dog, the animal must be friendly, gentle, patient, and able to adjust to different situations with complete strangers. It must be trained to enjoy hugging and petting and to lie on a bed or in the lap of an invalid, and perhaps on occasion to even perform some tricks.
Such a therapy dog was Baxter. He died on October 16 at the age of 19 years. Part chow and part golden retriever, Baxter did not have a promising beginning to his life. Abused, malnourished, and riddled with heart worms, he was rescued when he was two years old from an animal shelter where he was scheduled to be euthanized. His new owner, sensing something special about Baxter, nursed him back to health over the coming weeks with baths, daily antioxidants and swim therapy.
Over the years, Baxter gave much comfort to dying patients with his cuddles and soulful eyes. His big, padded paws, thick caramel-colored fur and shiny brown eyes reminded one of a stuffed teddy bear. For the past year, he was unable to walk at the hospice, so his owner transported him around the building in a custom-built red wagon. She would lift him, all 37 pounds of him, onto the bed or into the lap of a patient where he would perform his magic, often to the delight of the invalids.
When Baxter’s health started to decline last year, his owner decided to write a book about her therapy dog's life, in which she added numerous photographs of his interactions with patients over the years at the hospice. All of the money raised by the sale of the book is donated to animal and hospice charities. My wife bought a copy of the book last year when it was first published; and when we attended an art show there just three weeks ago, another couple we went with bought two copies of the book. (By the way, the book “Moments with Baxter” is still available at amazon.com).
We shall miss Baxter, and we are so happy that we got to hug and pet him one last time just three weeks ago. The gentle gaze of his big, soulful eyes just melted our hearts. If there is a heaven for dogs, we know that Baxter is there.
Video. Moments with Baxter.
Baxter, the worlds best, most devoted, and oldest therapy dog, 19 years and 6 months, eased peacefully from his life on Friday afternoon, October 16th.
When my wife and I visited the famed city of Cologne in Germany in 1979, we made certain that we paid a visit to the city’s most famous landmark, the Cologne Cathedral. Construction on this Gothic church, noted for its twin spires reaching 515 feet into the sky, began in 1248 and with some interruptions was not completed until 1880. Its completion is testimony to the persistence of Christian belief over those centuries.
Guess what we found located across the street from the cathedral -- architecture representative of the 20th century in the location of a McDonald’s fast food restaurant. So now one can get fast food for both the body and the soul.
Video. Facade of the Kӧln (Cologne) Cathedral
Now comes word that French culture and American fast food convenience will merge next month as a new McDonald’s opens within the shadow of the Louvre, the world’s most visited art museum. We can expect art lovers to fill up on burgers and french fries before taking in the high culture inside the Louvre.
I recently spotted a cartoon depicting a Rubenesque Mona Lisa with a McDonald’s Big Mac (560 calories) in her right hand and a large serving of french fries (540 calories) in her left hand. I presume there was a chocolate milkshake there somewhere (560 calories). She still had that mysterious smile on her face.
Video. Drawing a Mona Lisa Picture. If you think that burgers are there only to put fat on you, then you are wrong. This man can draw the Mona Lisa with the grease from ten burgers.
