Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

Yeomen of the Guard, the original "Indecent Proposal" musical, contains a song in which the leading man postulates on what a "Jack" must do if he wants to win his "Jill." I don't know about you, but I'd always assumed Jack and Jill were siblings, not would-be lovers. In a vein similar to Governor Mark Sanford and "hiking the Appalachian Trail", it gives new meaning to the phrase "fetch a pail of water."
In other previously misunderstood words, phrases, and description by yours truly, the house we stayed in on Isle au Haut was referred to by the islanders as the Stone Cottage. Silly me, I thought it would be made of stone. When we got there I thought, "those resourceful Mainers, it sure looks like wood to me." Only later did I find out that the Stone in Stone Cottage referred to Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone who built the house and served on the supreme court with Oliver Wendell Holmes and William Howard Taft.
I suppose it lends an air of prestige - Ken and I did sleep in the man's bedroom - to vacation in the former home of a supreme court justice, even one we'd never heard of. It was a greater brush with fame later in the week, however, when our rental car wouldn't run and the Stone Cottage's present owner fixed us up with a truck owned by sword fisherwoman and minor celebrity, Linda Greenlaw.
Isle of Haut is a place that's going to be forced to change its name as soon as someone takes offense to it. If the Santas in Australia aren't allowed say ho, ho, ho, can objection to Isle of Haut be far behind?

song: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood • artist: The Animals

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