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#123068 02/17/04 04:17 PM
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But the oysters would be rejoicing
because of gaining respite from harvest, not singing their
own funeral dirge.


yeah, but....O Henry is listing the 'markers of spring' that are known by a city person... a city dwellwer is person singing the 'swan song' for the oysters! One last party with a plate of blue points-- the last one of the season!

the list is of other 'markers' that are definately 'city markers' of spring.

the lame goose survives in a small town pond- there are plenty of children to feed him, and the neatly mowed grass of the park, the density of people means its unlikely there is a fox nearby.... this lame goose wouldn't survive in the country.

i think also the point is being made that city living, always thought of as hectic, is, in some ways, more leasured than country living (especially farm life!) and city folk have the time to see these small subtle sign of spring!

connie might enjoy shooning in the woods and wilds of MI-- i remember the beautiful white cap of mushroom that poked its head up in a planter (it was almost hidden by an evergreen tree in the planter) outside of the trump plaza.

i don't know if it was edible.. but i think perfect little white cap mushrooms are a far rarer find than mushroom found in the woods. the signs of nature, the signs of the change of season are different in the city.. and treasured all the more!


#123069 02/17/04 04:25 PM
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Amateurs harvesting wild mushrooms are in same class as Japanese gourmets eating fugu. Both may die suddenly.


#123070 02/18/04 01:20 AM
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You're right there Bill. My sis loves to go out looking for mushrooms with her tome in hand, comparing pictures.

She never eats any though, because the the description of the poisonous mushrooms always start with "this highly poisonous varity looks exactly like the edible ..."


#123071 02/18/04 01:23 AM
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One last party with a plate of blue points

I think you may have found the elusive idea, Helen.



formerly known as etaoin...
#123072 02/18/04 01:37 AM
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I worked with a mycologist for about four years. He wouldn't eat any wild mushrooms. He knew of too many
experts who had poisoned themselves.

And I still think "swan song" was poor writing here, a mangled figure of speech at best. Maybe they should have
sung a requiem or farewell song instead.


#123073 02/18/04 04:24 AM
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And some mycophobes die from tainted chicken or beef and some in auto accidents.


#123074 02/18/04 01:19 PM
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One of my central tenets is to avoid risking something big
to win something small.


#123075 02/18/04 01:35 PM
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"swan song" was poor writing here, a mangled figure of speech at best. Maybe they should have sung a requiem or farewell song instead.

but what is a swan song but a requiem or farewell song?

the term comes from the believe (we now know it was a false one, but) the Mute Swans (one species of swans) only sang at the moment of their death (i suppose hunters heard them!)

there are trumpeter swans, and mute swans.. (and no doubt many varieties of swans--can't think of any, but i have seen photo's of them in the zoo) i don't think any of them have a special sound they make as they lay dying, but none the less, a swan song is still something i associate with death or at the very least a farewell.




#123076 02/18/04 01:53 PM
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Dear of troy: The swan song was to be sung by the creature that was dying. Let us hope that the blue point oystereaters were not singing because they were about to die.


#123077 02/18/04 02:32 PM
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Not a bad tenet, Bill. I'm just saying that playing the sure bet doesn't always work. Otherwise Vegas would still be a desert truck stop.


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