Here is an excerpt from an obscure unpublished work. A search on a rarely used three-letter word suggested it has not been previously inflicted on any unsuspecting posters until now.

Some songwriters probably could have eliminated a few annoying crossword puzzle terms with a little effort. It is a bit appalling that a song that had to include “o’er” more than once got to be the national anthem of a fairly noteworthy country. Apparently that syllable count thing can be a real strain. Why else would an Andy Williams holiday classic feature the idiotic line “He’ll be comin’ down the chimney down”? I actually looked the thing up to make certain I was not just hearing it wrong. Could it not have gone with “He’ll be coming down the chimney crown,”, or maybe “chimney, round”? Many late-model chimneys are built with round stove pipe. It is not as if my four-inch diameter one could pass a fat man in a fuzzy suit, but it sounds better. Or just maybe he could have sang, “He’ll be coming into Chimney Town.” There, that sings! I just think there must be very few people who have chimneys lined with feather pillow stuffing! Was that last word supposed to imply, “I really do not mean ‘up’ in this sense”? Sorry, Mr. Williams, but if that other song had sounded like “Over the river over and through the woods through to Grandmother’s house we go to”, it would be a crock too! A pox on your syllable count!

"Season's Greetings" wink


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