Saying boo to a goose...
08.11.07
Last week I was having a
conversation with someone when I used the expression
‘they wouldn’t say boo to a goose,’ and then began to
think about how silly that sounded.
I mean who would want to say boo to a goose in any case?
And if you did say boo, would a goose even care?
You see the more I thought about it, ‘boo’ is the kind
of thing you might say to maybe a ghost. It would be
kinda like a ghostly ‘hello.’
Which got me wondering should we really be scared of
them (ghosts that is) at all? Okay, so maybe they moan
and groan a bit too much but it’s not their fault they
have to walk around clanking chains and hauling sheets
all night.
I mean if you had to do that every night you’d moan too.
I know people who have nothing to do but sit on their
ass all day in a warm comfortable office and the amount
of moaning they |
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do makes me think maybe a
ghost wouldn’t be that bad after all.
And it certainly could bring a whole new meaning to
‘team spirit.’
Plus it would help cut out the whining from people
suffering the after-effects of the night before and land
in the next day with the old ‘oh I’m dying’ routine.
I mean could you imagine the response?
‘Oh yeah, you’re dying? So what? I’ve been dead for 76
years and I was still able to get in to work…’
All very interesting of course, but it still doesn’t
resolve the goose thing, which, by the way, got me also
wondering about that old phrase ‘silly goose.’
Like, where did that come from and what’s it supposed to
mean?
After all they are just birds, what did a goose do to
earn the reputation of being ‘silly?’ Did he fly out of
formation?
Yep, I can just picture it, they are all heading out in
their flying > when suddenly Billy goose breaks off from
the end of the line to do a bit of exhibition stuff.
But he’s brought back into line by the squadron leader
who sternly reminds him that – ‘Billy now that was just
plain silly.’
Mmmm, now course if his name was Billy then it could
also account for the saying ‘Silly Billy,’ but since
that’s only actually after occurring to me as I got
towards the end of the last sentence maybe it would be
stretching that point a more than a teensy bit.
The thing is, I can find it easier to picture the geese,
in whatever language they communicate, labelling us as
silly.
Just picture it now. They just land in for the winter
break and they’re sitting around the wetlands up there
around Burt telling stories when there’s a huge guffaw
of goose laughter. |
“…and you know what he said
to me?…Go on you’ll never guess.....he said....wait for
it, he said...Boo!”
And then the laughter erupts ....ha, ha, ha, hiss, hiss,
hiss, ha…..silly human! (or whatever the goose
equivalent of that is).
It’s the kinda story they’ve probably had handed down
from their feathers and their forefeathers before them.
Still in the midst of them all there could be one who
quietly doubts the old saying and wonders is it all true
and are humans really silly at all?
In which case I hope he never ever, ever stumbles upon
evidence of this column… |
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A DROP OF
PORTER is
the weekly
column of
Inishowen
Independent
editor,
Liam Porter. |
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