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Usenet Posted 23 years ago
Usage
Not even the chair [used to be: Bad rhymes]
Donna Richoux wrote (some time ago):
[nq:1]A bad rhyme either doesn't rhyme, like: So put your little hand in mine There ain't no hill or mountain ... all Not even the chair. I am indebted to Dave Barry's "Book Of Bad Songs" for being reminded of these.[/nq]
I say that 'Not even the chair' is a rather catchy little phrase with an obvious meaning (akin to 'Everything but the kitchen sink' and aside from its usage in such sentences as 'No single board member has any more authority than any other, not even the chair').
Furthermore, I suggest that the chair can be seen from an existential viewpoint as the archetypal object that, though eternally present in the writer's apartment, remains unaware of the plight of the lost human being. The chair is unreacting, uncaring, and by blithely continuing to function normally when the writer cannot it becomes a source of annoyance and envy.
It is possible to maintain that an alternative existential object whose name is endowed with equally meritorious rhyming-properties, or indeed a more felicitous existential metaphor, might have been found; but I credit Mr Diamond with having tried hard to replace the line before deciding that it could not be improved on. Dummy lyric that stayed it may be, but it is said that in songwriting what first pops into one's head is often the best.
As Timothy C. Davis, writing in The Spectator , has said ( pace Mr Barry): 'I Am, I Said' rises above its deficiencies to become undeniable'. No more evidence of the truth of this statement is needed than the fact that we are even discussing what might appear to be a throwaway line more than 30 years after it was written.
Gerald Smyth
[nq:1]A bad rhyme either doesn't rhyme, like: So put your little hand in mine There ain't no hill or mountain ... all Not even the chair. I am indebted to Dave Barry's "Book Of Bad Songs" for being reminded of these.[/nq]
I say that 'Not even the chair' is a rather catchy little phrase with an obvious meaning (akin to 'Everything but the kitchen sink' and aside from its usage in such sentences as 'No single board member has any more authority than any other, not even the chair').
Furthermore, I suggest that the chair can be seen from an existential viewpoint as the archetypal object that, though eternally present in the writer's apartment, remains unaware of the plight of the lost human being. The chair is unreacting, uncaring, and by blithely continuing to function normally when the writer cannot it becomes a source of annoyance and envy.
It is possible to maintain that an alternative existential object whose name is endowed with equally meritorious rhyming-properties, or indeed a more felicitous existential metaphor, might have been found; but I credit Mr Diamond with having tried hard to replace the line before deciding that it could not be improved on. Dummy lyric that stayed it may be, but it is said that in songwriting what first pops into one's head is often the best.
As Timothy C. Davis, writing in The Spectator , has said ( pace Mr Barry): 'I Am, I Said' rises above its deficiencies to become undeniable'. No more evidence of the truth of this statement is needed than the fact that we are even discussing what might appear to be a throwaway line more than 30 years after it was written.
Gerald Smyth
Top answer
(Email Removed) (Gerald Smyth) wrote on 04 Dec 2003: [nq:1]Donna Richoux wrote (some time ago):[/nq] [nq:2]A bad rhyme either doesn't rhyme, like: So put your little hand in mine There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb[/nq] Surely you've heard of "slant rhyme" or one of its synonyms? The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
- (Email Removed) (Gerald Smyth) wrote on 04 Dec 2003: [nq:1]Donna Richoux wrote (some time ago):[/nq] [nq:2]A bad rhyme either doesn't rhyme, like: So put your little hand in mine There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb[/nq] Surely you've heard of "slant rhyme" or one of its synonyms?
- The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.
- 2000.
- off rhyme NOUN: A partial or imperfect rhyme, often using assonance or consonance only, as in dry and died or grown and moon.
- Also called half rhyme, near rhyme, oblique rhyme, slant rhyme.
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(Email Removed) (Gerald Smyth) wrote on 04 Dec 2003:
[nq:1]Donna Richoux wrote (some time ago):[/nq]
[nq:2]A bad rhyme either doesn't rhyme, like: So put your little hand in mine There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb[/nq]
Surely you've heard of "slant rhyme" or one of its synonyms?
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
of
[nq:1]Donna Richoux wrote (some time ago):[/nq]
[nq:2]A bad rhyme either doesn't rhyme, like: So put your little hand in mine There ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb[/nq]
Surely you've heard of "slant rhyme" or one of its synonyms?
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
of
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