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Pooh-Bah
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Sudden time on my hands and worried on a long-ago triv, I went and I looked and I verifized: Sammy Lerner is indeed the author of all *three* verses of "Popeye the Sailor Man" *and* "Falling in Love Again." He demised in the same year as the German Democratic Republic. No causal relationship has been established. http://www.harrynilsson.com/misc-1736-15063.html
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear IP: I never knew the author of "Is it true what they say about Dixie". But one line from it did not sound authentic "Do they keep eating possum till they cain't eat no more".
I doubt very much that possum can be a delicacy even to
the reddest of rednecks.
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"Do they keep eating possum till they cain't eat no more"
It depends on what the line rhymes with, wwh.
The lyricist may have put his professional predilections ahead of his culinary predilections.
In any case, there is no accounting for some people's taste in food.
I've heard of people who travel miles to hunt and eat blackbirds ... which they consider a delicacy.
Given a choice, I think I would take the possum.
But I would rather see a possum play dead than see one dead on my plate (roasted, grilled or baked).
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Pooh-Bah
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wwh: don't know the song but I wonder if it expresses a lament rather than a predilection.
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I wonder if it expresses a lament rather than a predilectionA person can lament a predilection, especially if it's fattening. 
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Is it true what they say about Dixie
Does the sun really shine all the time
Do the sweet magnolias blossom at everybody's door
Do the folks keep eating possum til they can't eat no more
Is it true what they say about Swanny
Is a dream by the stream so sublime
Do they laugh do they love like they say in every song
If it's true that's where I belong
Is it true what they say about Dixie
Does the sun really shine all the time
Well do the sweet magnolias blossom at everybody's door
Do the folks keep eating that possum til they can't eat no more
Is it true what they say about Swanny
Is a dream by the stream so sublime
Do they laugh love like they say in every song
If it's true that's where I belong
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Pooh-Bah
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<<lament[able] predilection[s]>>
I've never eaten possum but I think I remember hearing it's pretty awful.
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helps if you eat it standing on your head...
formerly known as etaoin...
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pretty awful.
It really is. It doesn't help that here they are major vectors for bovine TB, and that there are nearly twice as many of them as there are sheep.
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Pooh-Bah
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Old NZ recipe for eating possum: Boil the possum with a large stone for five hours. Throw away the possum. Eat the stone.
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Dunno bout no NZ possums. I know Oz possums aren't the real possums. Far as I know the American possums are the onliest real ones. Leastwards they ain' the same animal as any of the faux possums and parbly don' taste anywheres near the same. So don' be judging no American possums flavor on the basis of the flavour of them ersatz ones.
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From World Book 2002:
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Possum is a type of furry mammal that lives in the trees of Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands. Possums are marsupials--that is, the females give birth to young that complete their development while attached to the mother's nipples. Like most marsupials, young possums develop while carried about in a pouch on their mother's abdomen. Both possums and opossums are marsupials, but they are not closely related.
Possums move about at night and sleep during the day. They have handlike hind feet that help them grasp the branches of trees. Possums eat mainly blossoms, fruits, insects, and sap. The animals have black, brown, gray, tan, or white fur.
There are about 40 species of possums. The brush-tailed possum lives in Australian cities and raids fruit trees and garbage cans for food. Brush-tailed possums weigh from 3 to 11 pounds (1.4 to 5 kilograms). Other large species of possums, called cuscuses, weigh as much as 8 pounds (3.4 kilograms). The mouse-sized honey possum has a long, tube-shaped mouth and feeds on nectar and pollen. Pygmy possums may weigh as little as 1/4 ounce (8 grams). Several species of possums, called gliders, have large folds of skin between the front and rear legs on each side of the body. When the legs are spread, this skin serves as wings for gliding.
Scientific classification. The brush-tailed possum and cuscuses belong to the family Phalangeridae. The honey possum makes up the family Tarsipedidae. Pygmy possums belong to the family Burramyidae. Most gliders are in the family Petauridae.
Contributor: Michael L. Augee, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer, University of New South Wales.
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Opossum, pronounced uh PAHS uhm, is any member of a family of furry mammals that live in the Western Hemisphere. The female opossum carries its young in a pouch on its abdomen. Opossums, kangaroos, and other mammals that give birth to extremely undeveloped young are called marsupials. Opossums are the only marsupials that are native to North America. They live from Ontario in Canada southward into South America.
There are many species of opossums, most of which live in Central and South America. Small, tree-dwelling murine opossums resemble mice. Woolly opossums have thick, soft fur. Another kind of opossum, the yapok, is the only marsupial that is adapted for living in water. Its webbed feet help make it a good swimmer.
The common opossum is the only kind of opossum found in the United States. This species grows about as big as a house cat. It has rough grayish-white hair, a long snout, dark eyes, and big hairless ears. This opossum has a long tail that does not have much hair on it. The animal can hang upside down by wrapping its tail around a tree branch. This opossum has 50 teeth, more than any other North American mammal. Its teeth and claws are sharp. Opossum tracks are easy to recognize because the animal has long, widely separated toes.
Opossums are born in groups of from 5 to 20. At birth, an opossum is only about as big as a kidney bean. The female opossum carries its tiny babies in a pouch on the outer skin of its abdomen for about two months after birth. After leaving the pouch, the young stay near the mother for several more weeks. When they can take care of themselves, the young opossums go off on their own.
Opossums hunt at night. They eat almost any kind of animal or vegetable food. When in danger, opossums sometimes "faint" and appear to be dead.
Scientific classification. Opossums make up the opossum family, Didelphidae. The scientific name for the common opossum is Didelphis marsupialis.
Contributor: Frank B. Golley, Ph.D., Research Professor of Ecology, Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia.
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I never saw a possum until I came back from WWII, and saw
remains of one road killed lying near edge of road. I knew what it was only from reading Thornton Burgess books.
Then one year I had something pulling up my corn, every
kernel with a couple inch sprout, thrown down and left
because of fungicide coating. At first I thought it might
be redwing blackbirds, but then I saw pawprints. The next
day I saw an old, sick, ugly possum doing it. He must have
been dying of starvation, as they are strictly nocturnal.
I have no idea what he normally ate, but could no longer
obtain. I have read that the meat is extremely greasy.Yuk!
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>I never saw a possum until I came back from WWII,
And, according to the encyclopedia quoted above, you didn't then, unless you were in Australasia at the time. USn roadkill would be opossums, not possums.
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Pooh-Bah
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>>USn roadkill would be opossums, not possums.<<
Oh, yeah?! Well, what's in all that possum pie we ain't eatin', then? Hm, southpaw?
(good article, thanks)
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Opossum, also commonly known as possum; from the Virginia Algonquian aposoum, 'white beast'
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I heard they go good with sweet potatoes...
formerly known as etaoin...
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Dear Faldage: your post indicates that American possums
were known before the south Pacific ones.
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known beforeat least to North Americans...
formerly known as etaoin...
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>Opossum, also commonly known as possum; from the Virginia Algonquian aposoum, 'white beast'.
Ah, but I wasn't addressing the issue of what they are "commonly known as." I was addressing the issue of whether the American "possums" were the the only "real" possums. It seems that the only "real" possums are, in fact, the ones that are fully protected by law in Oz, and are a lethal nuisance here in Zild. Even the Algonquian original sticks a vowel in front of the "posoum" bit of the name, after all. The real possums up here in the South shouldn't be stigmatised becauase y'all have dropped an o from the real name of the faux possums, now, should they?
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Title: Possum & Taters Yield: 6 Servings Ingredients 1 young, fat possum 2 tb butter 8 sweet potatoes 1 tb sugar 1 salt Instructions First, catch a possum. This in itself is excellent entertainment on a moonlit night. Skin the possum and remove the head and feet. Be sure to wash it thoroughly. Freeze overnight, either outside or in a refrigerator. When ready to cook, peel the potatoes and boil them tender in lightly salted water along with the butter and sugar. At the same time, stew the possum until tender in a tightly covered pan with a little water. Arrange the taters around the possum, strip with bacon, sprinkle with thyme or marjoram, or pepper, and brown in the oven. Baste often with the drippings. More recipes for possum can be found here: http://recipes.chef2chef.net/recipe-indexa/arc-1799.htm
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That would be buttahwell, I yam what I yam...
formerly known as etaoin...
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I've seen it spelled opossum, but I've never heard it pronounced that way. Since it's first recorded in early 17th century in American colonial promotional literature, I assume it's from a local Native American language. Later applied to the Oz marsupials when they'd been discovered. Their generic name is Didelphidae, probably something to do with Greek delphus 'womb'. Two wombs? http://www.bartleby.com/61/74/O0097400.html
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Not quite sure I understand you. White settlers in Oz took an already existing name (first used to name the Virginian beatie) to apply to the beasts they saw on arrival. How do Oz possums get prior "realness"?
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at least to North Americans...
Strange the arriving Europeans didn't ask the Aborigines what to call the Oz possums?
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>prior realness
Not prior. Faldage asserted that the only "real" possums are those in the Americas, yet, according the encyclopedia, that possum's "real" name is "o"possum. Thus the only marsupial whose "real" name is "possum" is the Ocker version.
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didn't ask the Aboriginesyah. I figured they already knew what they called 'em down there.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Dear jheem: there are marsupials with two vaginas and two
wombs. Some males have twin penises. Not to envy.
Remember the old joke about the sailor with old trousers with double fly?
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I read in an anthro class once, that subincision as practised by some Aborigines results in a split penis in emulation of some of the marsupials downunder.
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But possum is a variant. Dropped the 'o'. Still no understand.
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Pooh-Bah
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World net gives it the other way around, saying 'possum' is the animal found in the western hemisphere, and the opossum, that in the Oceana. To cross a couple of threads, it gives 'dissemble' as a synomym for possum (and does not insist on 'to play..') But I'm with Max, anyway, 11 Oscars, and all. What the hell. Now, how did this thread get from animated spinach to (seemingly) inanimate marsupials?
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>World net gives it the other way around, saying 'possum' is the animal found in the western hemisphere, and the opossum, that in the Oceana. That's the way I was taught it, too, but I figured a USn encyclopedia would get it right.
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Now, how did this thread get from animated spinach to (seemingly) inanimate marsupials?Yeah, weird isn't it, how we sometimes meander around here 
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blame Capt. Cook (1777) for naming the thing as he saw it. possum is the aphetic form, first seen in the U.S. around 1613, some scant years after opossum first appears in the literature (1610).
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But was Capt. Cook familiar enough with the appearance of the N. American beastie, and so able to name the Australian beastie after it?
Bingley
Bingley
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It would be doubtful if Cook knew his ass from his elbow when it came to animals apart from sailors, and perhaps women although he had the rep of being something of a puritan. Who would have known about the Yank version of the beast would have been Joseph Banks, his naturalist. That guy was one bright, well-informed and talented cookie ...
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