Good morning, duckies! And a happy fifth day of Christmas to you.
You did know we're in the middle of the twelve days of Christmas, didn't you? You know, the twelve days that start with a partridge in a pear tree, include eight maids a'milking, and end with twelve drummers drumming? Those are some kind of great Christmas gifts, right there.
ANYWAY.
So, since the twelve days start on Christmas Day, today is the fifth day. Which means that I should have done this post yesterday, but instead I posted a Mystery Photo, because I am not always timely.
Today, we're going to discuss the gift for the fourth day of Christmas, which, as everyone knows, is four calling birds.
Except it's not.
WOAH. HOLD THE PHONE.
I have spent my entire life singing that song with four calling birds, when in fact, it's supposed to be four colly birds. I learned this from a little book Santa brought for Cubby with beautiful illustrations for the twelve days (and here it is). I was sitting there singing the song for Cubby, flipping through the book, and I got to four colly birds, which stopped me right in my musical tracks.
"What?" I said. "What the hell is a colly bird? From the illustrations they look like . . . blackbirds?"
I was sort of talking to myself, but I should have known someone in the room (those someones being A. and the MiL) would know all about this. Because between the two of them, they can produce explanations of every esoteric piece of knowledge you can think of. And a lot you probably couldn't think of.
ANYWAY AGAIN.
After my little self-dialog, A. somewhat off-handedly explained it: Colly birds are blackbirds. Colly is a somewhat archaic English word meaning black as coal; it comes from the same root as "colliery," which is an old English word for coal mine.
OF COURSE. Everyone knows that.
At least, now I know that. And so do you.
So there you have it. A.'s Christmas gift to you: Lyrical accuracy and the priceless gift of pretty much useless knowledge. You're welcome.
11 comments:
Well I'll be. I always thought it was 'calling birds' too. Thanks for enlightening me!
It's reassuring to know you can still learn important things at 63. Thanks, I'll have to see tonight if anyone in the choir knows what we now know. I just hope I can remember the explanation.
A question : why would anyone want 4 blackbirds? Beth
to make blackbird pie of course
Sheila and Beth: Yup--except you'd need 20 more for the pie to be dainty enough for the king.
P.S. If you don't know that nursery rhyme (or that Agatha Christie novel), just trust me that I'm not crazy.
Ha! I couldn't wait to come add my two-sense about finding 20 more for a pie, and you beat me to it!
This "colly" business will serve as trivia for this evening's "drink and think." This is our name for the time when we pour a cold beer or glass of wine and re-cap the day's details.
I love useless knowledge. My friends want me to go on Jeopardy. Of course, then they'd see that I'm not as smart as they think I am, so I think I'll stay home.
Yay for trivia! Thanks A. I always enjoy learning new things. And my mind clings to useless trivia far better than things I actually NEED to know.
Someone told me the other day that the Fiiiiiive Goldennnnn Riiiiings part actually refers to pheasants, and not jewelry. What does Cubby's book have to say about that?
Upon some research, I found that the five golden rings originally referred indeed to five ring-necked pheasants. But there are two spellings of colly/collie birds according to my source. Mary in MN
I'm stickin' with calling birds. And, I'd like to know the same thing: why would anyone want four blackbirds? We gotta change the lyrics all around to this song.
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