Sweetest little fellow...

[Peter Percival]

The song made popular by Paul Robeson begins

Sweetest little fellow, everybody knows
Don't know what to call him but he's mighty like a rose

What does "mighty like a rose" mean? Does it mean "very much like a
rose", or "mighty in the way a rose is mighty"? Or maybe something else?

--
[...] They listened at his heart.
Little-less-nothing!-and that ended it.
No more to build on there. And they, since they
Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.
"Out, Out-", Robert Frost, 1916.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Friday, May 30, 2014 3:46:25 PM UTC-4, Peter Percival wrote:

> The song made popular by Paul Robeson begins
Sweetest little fellow, everybody knows
> Don't know what to call him but he's mighty like a rose
> What does "mighty like a rose" mean? Does it mean "very much like a
> rose", or "mighty in the way a rose is mighty"? Or maybe something else?

"Mighty" is a familiar intensifier. "I'm mighty proud of you, son."

Never heard a Paul Robeson version, though.

[James Silverton]

It's unnecessarily picky to criticize the words of a song but I agree
that "mighty" is being used as an intensifier. A baby may resemble a
rose in beauty but that's for the proud parent to say and babies don't
remain sweet smelling for long periods of time.

--
Jim Silverton (Potomac, MD)

Extraneous "not." in Reply To.

[LFS]

I haven't either. The song is always associated in my mind with the
Emlyn Williams thriller "Night Must Fall", in which the villain sings or
whistles the song and he is Welsh. I saw an amateur production when I
was about 13 and was quite terrified: all I can remember now is that a
hatbox, probably containing body parts, figured importantly in the plot.

--
Laura (emulate St George for email)

[Jeffrey Turner]

On 5/30/2014 3:46 PM, Peter Percival wrote:
> The song made popular by Paul Robeson begins
>
> Sweetest little fellow, everybody knows
> Don't know what to call him but he's mighty like a rose
>
> What does "mighty like a rose" mean? Does it mean "very much like a
> rose", or "mighty in the way a rose is mighty"? Or maybe something else?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mighty_Lak'_a_Rose

[Don Phillipson]

"LFS" <la...@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> wrote in message
news:busd57...@mid.individual.net...

>>> The song made popular by Paul Robeson begins
>> Sweetest little fellow, everybody knows
>>> Don't know what to call him but he's mighty like a rose

> . . . The song is always associated in my mind with the Emlyn Williams

> thriller "Night Must Fall", in which the villain sings or whistles the
> song and he is Welsh. I saw an amateur production when I was about 13 and
> was quite terrified: all I can remember now is that a hatbox, probably
> containing body parts, figured importantly in the plot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mighty_Lak'_a_Rose tells us this
1901 US composition became a pop standard by the 1930s, when
Williams's play was written.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

[Peter Percival]

Thank you. I would never have guessed at that spelling!

[Stan Brown]

On Fri, 30 May 2014 20:46:25 +0100, Peter Percival wrote:
>
> The song made popular by Paul Robeson begins
>
> Sweetest little fellow, everybody knows
> Don't know what to call him but he's mighty like a rose
>
> What does "mighty like a rose" mean? Does it mean "very much like a
> rose", or "mighty in the way a rose is mighty"? Or maybe something else?

"Mighty" is an old-fashioned adverb meaning "very" or "very-much".

It's another in the series of American adverbs that don't end in -ly.

--
"The difference between the /almost right/ word and the /right/ word
is ... the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning."
--Mark Twain
Stan Brown, Tompkins County, NY, USA http://OakRoadSystems.com

[CDB]

Ahem. Is that anything like "real proud"?

Your use is different from Paul's, though. His means something like
"very much" rather than "very". If you substituted a form of "real" for
it, it would have to be "really" in anyone's dialect.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Saturday, May 31, 2014 9:27:33 AM UTC-4, CDB wrote:
> On 30/05/2014 4:04 PM, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> > Peter Percival wrote:

> >> The song made popular by Paul Robeson begins Sweetest little
> >> fellow, everybody knows Don't know what to call him but he's mighty
> >> like a rose What does "mighty like a rose" mean? Does it mean
> >> "very much like a rose", or "mighty in the way a rose is mighty"?
> >> Or maybe something else?
> > "Mighty" is a familiar intensifier. "I'm mighty proud of you, son."
> > Never heard a Paul Robeson version, though.
>
> Ahem. Is that anything like "real proud"?

Yes.

> Your use is different from Paul's, though. His means something like
> "very much" rather than "very". If you substituted a form of "real" for
> it, it would have to be "really" in anyone's dialect.

Paul who? I just said I've never heard a Paul Robeson version, and Paul
Wolff (say) isn't in this thread.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Saturday, May 31, 2014 8:58:36 AM UTC-4, Stan Brown wrote:
> On Fri, 30 May 2014 20:46:25 +0100, Peter Percival wrote:

> > The song made popular by Paul Robeson begins
> > Sweetest little fellow, everybody knows
> > Don't know what to call him but he's mighty like a rose
> > What does "mighty like a rose" mean? Does it mean "very much like a
> > rose", or "mighty in the way a rose is mighty"? Or maybe something else?
>
> "Mighty" is an old-fashioned adverb meaning "very" or "very-much".
> It's another in the series of American adverbs that don't end in -ly.

So you're saying that in YourE (was I mistaken in thinking you're
an American?), you'd have to say "mightily like a rose"? or "verily
like a rose" or "very-muchly like a rose"?

[CDB]

On 31/05/2014 10:49 AM, Peter T. Daniels wrote:

> CDB wrote:
>> Peter T. Daniels wrote:
>>> Peter Percival wrote:

>>>> The song made popular by Paul Robeson begins Sweetest little
>>>> fellow, everybody knows Don't know what to call him but he's
>>>> mighty like a rose What does "mighty like a rose" mean? Does
>>>> it mean "very much like a rose", or "mighty in the way a rose
>>>> is mighty"? Or maybe something else?
>>> "Mighty" is a familiar intensifier. "I'm mighty proud of you,
>>> son." Never heard a Paul Robeson version, though.

>> Ahem. Is that anything like "real proud"?

> Yes.

The second holder of the Oz franchise was plumly Thompson: very much
herself. Shaken and stirred, but otherwise unhurt.

>> Your use is different from Paul's, though. His means something
>> like "very much" rather than "very". If you substituted a form of
>> "real" for it, it would have to be "really" in anyone's dialect.

> Paul who? I just said I've never heard a Paul Robeson version, and
> Paul Wolff (say) isn't in this thread.

I meant the Paul who is still there in the first line of the posting. I
had no expectation of attracting notice with him; it was just a way of
distinguishing the two uses that didn't bore me, maybe subconsciously
inspired by the Peter-Paul axis.

[Mike L]

Ah, a clearuppance opp. There's a tedious poetaster called Hugo
Williams who used to write a column in the TLS, and he often said
things suggesting everybody knew who his father was: was Emlyn
Williams that father?

--
Mike.

[Robert Bannister]

On 31/05/2014 6:38 am, Peter Percival wrote:
> Jeffrey Turner wrote:
>> On 5/30/2014 3:46 PM, Peter Percival wrote:
>>> The song made popular by Paul Robeson begins
>>>
>>> Sweetest little fellow, everybody knows
>>> Don't know what to call him but he's mighty like a rose
>>>
>>> What does "mighty like a rose" mean? Does it mean "very much like a
>>> rose", or "mighty in the way a rose is mighty"? Or maybe something
>>> else?
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mighty_Lak'_a_Rose
>>
> Thank you. I would never have guessed at that spelling!
>

It's certainly not like the version we knew at school:
Funny little fellow, wears his sister's clothes,
Don't know what to call him, but we think he's one of those.

--
Robert Bannister - 1940-71 SE England
1972-now W Australia

[Robert Bannister]

Ah, the sweet sound of proper English
as it was one spoken.

[Peter T. Daniels]

You seem to be turning into Mike L. That whole "Oz franchise" business
connects with nothing at all; nor do I see anything to be distinguished
by alluding to Paul Robeson.

[Jerry Friedman]

You misspelled "oncely".

--
Jerry Friedman

[CDB]

(In reverse order) (1) Peter from Paul, in this case: the usage
exemplified by your "mighty proud" from his in "mighty lak' a rose".

(2) I suppose I may be more familiar with the Oz canon than most. The
Bronxville Public Library, though small, had dozens of books in the
series; I read them all at least once. After Baum died they were
written for years, in a rather different style, by Ruth Plumly Thompson.
I noted early on that her various heroes would emerge from each
adventure shaken and bruised, but otherwise unhurt.

(3)(parenthetically) The obscurity is often a kind of compliment, I
think. Ruth came up while I was thinking about American adverbs without
"-ly" and I just plum threw her in for giggles.

(4) I could do worse.

[Peter T. Daniels]

That seems like a very Anglican association to make. The juxtaposition
of Peter and Paul evokes a candy company, Peter Paul Almond Joy.

> (2) I suppose I may be more familiar with the Oz canon than most. The
> Bronxville Public Library, though small, had dozens of books in the
> series; I read them all at least once. After Baum died they were
> written for years, in a rather different style, by Ruth Plumly Thompson.
> I noted early on that her various heroes would emerge from each
> adventure shaken and bruised, but otherwise unhurt.

You youthed in Bronxville, NY (a suburb of Yonkers, seat of Sarah Lawrence
College)?

> (3)(parenthetically) The obscurity is often a kind of compliment, I
> think. Ruth came up while I was thinking about American adverbs without
> "-ly" and I just plum threw her in for giggles.

So you seem to be saying that the intensifier "mighty" recalled the recent
discussion of "plumb," a far more dialectal intensifier, which then by
misspelling and adding an otiose adverbizing suffix -ly led you to the
middle name of an author of, it would seem, inferior contributions to the
Oz franchise, a characterization of which you yourself discovered after
considerable cogitation and applied to the author herself -- all this
was presented in a few words that might at best evoke Sadie or Kaye?

Even the Listener Crossword would not employ so convoluted a challenge.

> (4) I could do worse.

Please don't try.

[CDB]

On 01/06/2014 1:34 PM, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> CDB wrote:

["plumly Thompson"?]

>> (2) I suppose I may be more familiar with the Oz canon than most.
>> The Bronxville Public Library, though small, had dozens of books in
>> the series; I read them all at least once. After Baum died they
>> were written for years, in a rather different style, by Ruth Plumly
>> Thompson. I noted early on that her various heroes would emerge
>> from each adventure shaken and bruised, but otherwise unhurt.

> You youthed in Bronxville, NY (a suburb of Yonkers, seat of Sarah
> Lawrence College)?

My father was attached to our consulate and UN mission in NY for about
four years, my 8-12. I sat in PS #8; Sarah Lawrence was only a rumour.

>> (3)(parenthetically) The obscurity is often a kind of compliment,
>> I think. Ruth came up while I was thinking about American adverbs
>> without "-ly" and I just plum threw her in for giggles.

> So you seem to be saying that the intensifier "mighty" recalled the
> recent discussion of "plumb," a far more dialectal intensifier, which
> then by misspelling and adding an otiose adverbizing suffix -ly led
> you to the middle name of an author of, it would seem, inferior
> contributions to the Oz franchise, a characterization of which you
> yourself discovered after considerable cogitation and applied to the
> author herself -- all this was presented in a few words that might at
> best evoke Sadie or Kaye?

Just tossed it in, really.

> Even the Listener Crossword would not employ so convoluted a
> challenge.

Thank you?

[becoming like Mike]

>> (4) I could do worse.

> Please don't try.

I know my limits.

[Mike L]

On Sun, 1 Jun 2014 10:34:13 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"
<gram...@verizon.net> wrote:

>On Sunday, June 1, 2014 7:18:55 AM UTC-4, CDB wrote:
>> On 31/05/2014 11:26 PM, Peter T. Daniels wrote:

[...]

>> > You seem to be turning into Mike L. That whole "Oz franchise"
>> > business connects with nothing at all; nor do I see anything to be
>> > distinguished by alluding to Paul Robeson.

>>[...]

>
>> (4) I could do worse.
>
>Please don't try.

+AOL: he scores every time the way he is.

--
Mike.

[Mack A. Damia]

I looked at several Internet acronym sites for AOL and could not find
what I was looking for. The best I could come up with was "Army of
Legions".

--

[Leslie Danks]

It stands for America On-Line. According to what I read some decades
ago, it originates from the time when AOL (the company) first made the
Internet available to the masses. Overcome with joy, said masses
inundated the Web with messages, regardless of whether they had anything
worthwhile to say. Many of these messages consisted solely of the
unsnipped text of the message being replied to, plus "I agree with all
that" (or similar) at the end. In time, "AOL" was adopted by clever
buggers as an abbreviation signifying agreement.

I have also done a quick search and, although I found AOL as an
abbreviation for America On-Line, I couldn't find any reference to the
above story. AOL is known for Orwellian tendencies. Perhaps they've
expunged it because it might damage their corporate image.

--
Leslie (Les) Danks (BrE)
Purity is chemistry's essential Platonic rabbit.

[Mack A. Damia]

On Sun, 01 Jun 2014 23:00:17 +0200, Leslie Danks <leslie...@aon.at>
wrote:

Interesting! I had posted to the British breakfast group (now
defunct) around year 2000, and AOL was used a lot as a symbol of
agreement. I think I recall somebody else mentioning "Army of
Legions" as it signified that you "joined" the Army in support of what
was said. Obviously not on target, though, but it kind of made sense
at the time.

--

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

On Sun, 01 Jun 2014 23:00:17 +0200, Leslie Danks <leslie...@aon.at>
wrote:

This doesn't have the full story.
http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/A/AOL-.html


--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

[Peter T. Daniels]

I wasn't asking him not to try to sound like you, but not to try to
out-complicate the Listener Crossword.

[Robert Bannister]

Thank you for the correction. Strange how that looks like a word that
begins with "o" rather than "w".

[Guy Barry]

"Peter Duncanson [BrE]" wrote in message
news:24dno9pvh527ifr6i...@4ax.com...

>
>On Sun, 01 Jun 2014 23:00:17 +0200, Leslie Danks <leslie...@aon.at>
>wrote:

>>I have also done a quick search and, although I found AOL as an
>>abbreviation for America On-Line, I couldn't find any reference to the
>>above story. AOL is known for Orwellian tendencies. Perhaps they've
>>expunged it because it might damage their corporate image.
>
>This doesn't have the full story.
>http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/A/AOL-.html

It's got enough to remind me that the original formulation made more sense;
it was usually something like

<AOL>
Me too!
</AOL>

At some point, either deliberately or by accident, some people must have
started writing "AOL" as the main text rather than as a mock-HTML tag,
leading to the absurd situation where the name of an internet service
provider was used to demonstrate agreement. Now, if Mack is to be believed,
it seems that some people have forgotten what it stood for.

--
Guy Barry

[Peter Moylan]

On 02/06/14 07:00, Leslie Danks wrote:

> It stands for America On-Line. According to what I read some decades
> ago, it originates from the time when AOL (the company) first made the
> Internet available to the masses. Overcome with joy, said masses
> inundated the Web with messages, regardless of whether they had anything
> worthwhile to say. Many of these messages consisted solely of the
> unsnipped text of the message being replied to, plus "I agree with all
> that" (or similar) at the end. In time, "AOL" was adopted by clever
> buggers as an abbreviation signifying agreement.
>
> I have also done a quick search and, although I found AOL as an
> abbreviation for America On-Line, I couldn't find any reference to the
> above story. AOL is known for Orwellian tendencies. Perhaps they've
> expunged it because it might damage their corporate image.

A search for AOL "me too" will find plenty of references. See also
"eternal September".

--
Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.