Our stories of strong women remind me of an alligator cooking contest in Franklin that I judged in the early days of this column.
During breaks from judging the 36 dishes (fried, stewed, bisque, kabobs, cold salad, etc.) I chatted with the cooks.
One of them was a petite young lady with long black hair and dark eyes. When I asked where she got her alligator meat, she answered in a thick Cajun accent:
"I backed my truck up to a place on the bayou where I'd seen gators. On the back I have a winch with steel cable and a big stainless steel hook. I put a hunk of chicken on the hook and threw it in the water.
"In a few minutes a gator took it. Once I had him hooked, I winched him far enough out of the water so I could shoot him between the eyes with my .22.
"Then I winched him up to the back of the truck, gutted him, and threw him in the bed. I drove him to the skinning shed where we help each other skin and butcher our gators."
My first thought after hearing this was: "If I was her husband I would be very, very careful not to make her angry at me."
Misheard Lyrics Dept.
Readers continue to amuse me with tales of hearing songs that deviate from the correct lyrics:
• Kathy Gibbs says, "Mishearings of words in songs are called ‘mondegreens.’ The American writer Sylvia Wright coined the term in 1954, recalling a childhood memory of her mother reading the 1765 Scottish ballad 'The Bonny Earl of Murray' and mishearing the words 'laid him on the green' as 'Lady Mondegreen.'
"My father-in-law was infamous for using them. He would proudly sing, 'I never saw (vs. promised you) a rose garden …'"
• Richard Schega, of Mandeville, says, "I remember sitting around lunch at work discussing the movie 'Saturday Night Fever' when Sandy said she thought the Bee Gees' 'More Than a Woman' lyrics were 'Bald-Headed Woman.'
"Needless to say, Coke spewed everywhere."
• Alan R. Crnko, of Holden, says, "One day I was singing in the shower Creedence Clearwater Revival's smash hit, 'There's a Bathroom on the Right' when my wife Catherine told me the lyric was really 'There's a Bad Moon on the Rise.'
"In my defense, as a kid I'd never heard of a bad moon, but I have needed a bathroom on the right (or anywhere, especially at Mardi Gras) many times."
(Because, as Benny Grunch & the Bunch sings, "There Ain't No Place …")
Special People Dept.
Mary Lee Dunn, Norwood, celebrated her 96th birthday on May 12th.
I love U
Shirley McDonald says, "The creative writing comment in your column Tuesday reminded me of one of my (long ago) student’s creative writing assignments that had a bride and groom exchanging ‘wedding vowels.’ The mental picture is priceless."
Fifth line blues
The occasional poet Frank Fronczek, of Baton Rouge, discusses a current column topic:
"Besides the rhyming pattern, limericks should also conform to patterns in the number of syllables in each line.
"But if you're going to violate the meter standards, do it right. For example, this one by an unknown author:
"An aspiring young poet from Iran
Was quite good, but his verse didn't scan.
When told it was so
He said "Yes I know,
But I always try to put as many words into the last line as I possibly can."