""Nit," said Hetty. "It ain't him. You're up against real life now. I believe you said your hero friend had money and automobiles. This is a poor skeezicks that's got nothing to eat but an onion. But he's easy-spoken and not a freshy. I imagine he's been a gentleman, he's so low down now. And we need the onion. Shall I bring him in? I'll guarantee his behavior."
A trivia question. How many members ever read the Uncle Wiggly stories, and remember the villains who were trying
to eat a portion of his anatomy. The Skeezix was one of
them, who were the other two, and what was it they wanted
to eat? We had a thread about this a long time ago, but
I'll bet nobody remembers it.
Skillery-Skallery Alligator....
wwh, I never read these stories, but I tried googling to learn what I could and simply failed in digging up much information other than that alligator who appears to be a contender for one of your two other villains.
never read those stories, but skeezix is a word of endearment used by my father towards his grandchildren. I find myself calling my boys, "skeezix" occasionally.
makes me smile.
Ah! Ain't Google grand! I've now determined that Skillery-Skallery Alligator was trying to eat Uncle Wiggly's ears!
If I do find the other villain, I won't post it here so those who have really read the story can post.
But ain't Google grand!
So, the Skeezix,the Pipsissewa, and the Skillery-Scallery Alligator wanted to eat Uncle Wiggily's "souse" = pickled ears. I used to bring home big white rabbits used for safety testing of intravenous fluids made at MA Biologic Labs. I used to dress them, but the kids wouldn't eat it
until my wife told them it was "Danish chicken". One night I got home much too late to dress them, and put them in a big cage I had made for that contingency. Stray dogs tipped cage over, and you never heard such a frenzied barking as they chased the rabbits through the neighborhood. Luckily the neighbors never pinned it on me. They were in a mood to
"dress" the perpetrator if they could find out who was to blame.
Reminds me of the woman who raises rabbits in Flint in Michael Moore's film Roger and Me asks her customers: Pets or meat?
Souse is a great word: related to sal 'salt' and salad.
In reply to:
Pets or meat?
Ha!
What's the root meaning that connects souse, salt and salad? Very interesting--but I'd love to know what the common denominator might be.
WW-- The root's *
sal 'salt'. Souse is from MFr
souser, OFr
soucir 'to pickle' from
sous,
souz 'pickled meat' from OHG
sulza 'brine, jelly, jellied or pickled meat' from *
sal-d- 'salt'. Salad is ultimately from Late Latin
salata feminine past participle of
salo 'to salt'. You've also got salary and salami in there, too.
http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE441.html
Joke on me. So many sausages are named after city where
they originated, I thought "salami" came from Salamis, where Greek navy defeated Persian Navy. Scientific American a few years ago had a story about Greek navy having a secret weapon - waxed pads under butts of oarsment, which greatly lenthened their stroke, and made their ships faster,
and more maneuverable.