Burns Night
This is the anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns in Ayr, Scotland. The Burns Night celebrations conducted by Scots all over the world with haggis, whisky¹, and poetry.
Wikipedia has a description of the standard celebration, but easy on the malt or you may end up with a William McGonagall morning.
In honor of the occasion a bit of Robby Burns for the Democratic “leadership”:
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain
For promis’d joy!To a Mouse
1. This is the correct spelling when referring to Scotland’s “water of life”.
11 comments
whisky and poetry, yeah!
haggis, blech.
Haggis…ugh…don’t think so.
No worse than a Taco Bell taco – they both contain oatmeal [the TB “seasoned beef” is apparently more ‘beef flavored’, than beef], and better that most ‘hot dogs’ sold at sporting events in the US. The ‘great pudding’ isn’t that bad, just avoid reading the ingredients sticker, [like hot dogs] .
The only place I like haggis is in Star Trek’s Scotty’s exclamation “Me grandmother’s haggis!” None on my plate, please.
Burns’s language is fascinating. I’ve been reading John McWhorter’s book The Power of Babel. If you think Burns sounds odd to the 21st-century American ear, try to remember that the best evidence is that all languages… yes, all of ’em… descended from a single ur-language, and that the change is constant and ongoing even in the face of well-established major languages which might be expected to standardize things.
No worse than a Taco Bell taco – they both contain oatmeal [the TB “seasoned beef” is apparently more ‘beef flavored’, than beef], and better that most ‘hot dogs’ sold at sporting events in the US.
like i said…
an aside– the fluffy black dog loves loves loves hotdogs and taco bell tacos, and even willingly eats oatmeal.
It appears that at least one owl in Germany decided to celebrate Burns Night a bit early. No indications as to whether wee haggis were found scattered around the drunken owl’s vicinity…
– Badtux the Amused Penguin
Steve, Burns’s language has nothing on Glenn Beck for unintelligibility, so the stream is subject to tides.
The problem with the ur-language concept is that languages can generally be classed in one of two types: those that are based on word position or those that are based on word endings. Those differences are so fundamental that it is hard to see a common base.
Does he like the pipes, Hipparchia?
The owl may have assumed that it is easier to read Burns if you imbibe, Badtux. It certainly helps with the haggis and the pipes.
he hates them, i love them [although not indoors].
one of the local groups used to practice in the parking lot at one of the dog parks, which meant that we had the whole park to ourselves most practice nights. being the good sport that he is, as long as i let him wander off to the farthest corners of the park, he didn’t complain about the noise.
Even if he doesn’t like the pipes, I’m fairly certain he would love haggis, since it is very similar to A-D cat food.
he loves loves loves a/d. during his occasional bouts of old-dog-itis that’s all he’ll eat, and feeding a 50lb dog entirely on a/d costs about $10/day. i’ll see f i can get some haggis for hm next time.
It is blocked from importation, so you need to find a local Scot.
Yeah, A-D with water is how I start to ween hand-raised kittens. Not a lot, and diluted to a cream consistency in a small bowel, just a hint that all food doesn’t come from a bottle.