Saturday 21 March 2009

Spring has Sprung...while we slept

Historically spring starts on the day of the vernal equinox, which usually occurs on the night of 20/21 March. That was last night

Here's the famous Spring in the Bronx ditty that people all over the Northern Hemisphere English speaking world say at this time of year

Spring has sprung, the grass is ris,
I wonder where the boidies is
The boid is on the wing,
How absoid
The wing is on the boid!

It must be assumed that this is by Author Unknown..it is not Ogden Nash as is often alleged. Listen up allegators, Ogden had all his stuff published starting with

Spring Comes To Murray Hill
Ogden Nash
which goes


I sit in an office at 244 Madison Avenue
And say to myself
You have a responsible job havenue?
Why then do you fritter away your time on this doggerel?
If you have a sore throat you can cure it by using a good goggeral etc

He doesn't mention Spring but he does say


Oh, if I only had the wings of a bird
Instead of being confined on Madison Avenue
I could soar in a jiffy to Second or Third.

It is alleged Ogden Nash wrote

Spring has newly sprung
the hills are full of grass
and along comes a billy-goat
sliding on his overcoat
down the summer pass


but I don't think so. It doesn't sound Nashy enough to me. Now this sounds Nashy

Spring is what winta
Always gozinta.

Walking along the 4th fairway at my golf club the other day 'Spring has Sprung' popped into my head, as did this

The horse is on the hoof
Nonsense, of course
The hoof is on the horse
Jon Bratton 2009

Here's another variation on the theme

Spring has sprung, the grass has ris’,
I wonder where the birdie is?
There he is up in the sky,
He dropped some whitewash in my eye!
I‘m alright, I won’t cry,
I’m just glad that cows can’t fly!


~ Author Unknown ~

And another

Spring has sprung,
The grass has riz,
I wonder where the flowers is

And one more

Spring has sprung!", said the bumble bee.
"How do you know?", said the old oak tree.
"I just saw a daffodil blooming on a windy hill!"

Want more?


This 'Spring has Sprung...while we slept' blog entry is copyright Jon Bratton 2009

2 comments:

Pete at large said...

when I was in school I had a book of Nash's poetry, which always titillated the fancy of school boys and it's one of the few poems I had ever memorised successfully...
I would say research wider before you prepare to fly in the face of oral tradition.

Chowyunfood said...

I agree...This was most assuredly in one of my Mothers, Nash books...