Page 48 - br-sep-2020
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September 2020                                                                      September 2020
       We’ll begin with a box and the plural   Then  one  may  be  that  and  them  would
       is boxes                           be those ,
       But  the  plural  of  ox  becomes  oxen,   Yet  what  in  the  plural  would  never  be
       not oxes.                          whose.
       One  fowl  is  a  goose  but  two  are   And the plural of cats, not cose.
       called geese                       We  speak  of  a  brother  and  also  of
       Yet the plural of moose should never   brethren,
       be meese.                          But though we say mother, we never say
       You may find a lone mouse or a nest   methren.
       full of mice                       The  masculine  pronouns  are  he,  his  and
                                          him
       Yet the plural of house is houses not
       hice.                              But  imagine  the  feminine,  she,  shis  and
                                          shim.


       If  the  plural  of  man  is  always  called
       men,                               Let’s face it – English is a crazy language.
       Why should not the plural of pan be   There is  no  egg in eggplant,  nor  ham  in
       called pen?                        hamburger,
       If I  speak  of  my  foot  I  show  you  my   Neither apple nor pine in pineapple,
       feet,                              English  muffins  weren’t  invented  in
       And if I give a boot, would a pair be   England.
       called beet?
       If one is a tooth and a whole set are   At  this  point  I  must  leave  you  and  God
       teeth,                             Bless You All.
       Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be   Goodbye until the next time.
       called beeth?
                                                                       Ted Cox



       The Sound of Sirens
       We woke up at 6 o’clock in the morning, not to the vibration of an alarm clock
       but  to  the  sound  of  sirens.  It  was  impossible  to  know,  which  of  the  emergency
       services was involved, but with the recent forest fires not too far away from here,
       we did think it was likely to be the movement of fire engines.
       Any which way, it made a change from the chirrup and twitter of bird song, which
       generally  wafts  through  our  bedroom  window,  at  that  time.  When  a  person  is
       trying  to  focus  on  what  particular  day  of  the  week  it  might  be,  the  last  thing
       needed, is the doppler effect. Being grateful for small mercies, however, we were
       glad that we did not live at the other end of our village.
       The significant drawback with the other end of the village, is that it backs onto the
       bypass, which gives it a significantly high level of rumbling road noise. The extra

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