My chum Rick Curl just sent me a link to this video by “Weird Al” Yankovic. As you are doubtless aware, “Weird Al” — who was born in 1959, which makes him two years younger than your humble narrator — is best known for his humorous songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts.
Of course, the reason Rick sent this video to me is that it’s all about grammar and I’m a writer. Maybe Rick is trying to tell me something. Be that as it may, as with all of “Weird Al”’s work, this is really very clever.
I couldn’t help myself, I had an urge to read up on “Weird Al,” so I bounced over to the “Weird Al” Wikipedia page where I discovered that he started playing the accordion the day before his seventh birthday.
It appears a door-to-door salesman offered a choice of accordion or guitar lessons for “Weird Al” at a local music school. According to “Weird Al,” his parents “chose the accordion over the guitar because “they figured there should be at least one more accordion-playing Yankovic in the world” (they were referring to Frankie Yankovic to whom “Weird Al” is not related).
Additionally, “Weird Al” says that another reason his parents chose the accordion was because “they were convinced it would revolutionize rock.” Now I wish I could have grown up near “Weird Al” and met his parents. How about you? Do you have a “Weird Al” favorite you’d care to share?
I was always partial to to “Foil” especially the surprise ending on the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urglg3WimHA&list=RDZe7zh0GmwDs&index=16
But I just found “The Saga Begins” which I also enjoyed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEcjgJSqSRU&list=RDZe7zh0GmwDs&index=2
I’ve seen “Foil” before, but “The Saga Begins” is a new one on me — I love it!
I just saw this new one by “Weird Al” based on the presidential debate: https://youtu.be/un9x-DjTMT0 — I’d be laughing if I wasn’t crying.
An upper-class woman from Boston was visiting a friend in Alabama. As she drove north from Birmingham Airport, she stopped at a small convenience store to pick up a snack. At the counter, the cashier noticed her unusual manner and asked, “Where are you from?” She said, “Where I come from, we don’t end our sentences with a preposition.” The cashier replied, “Ok, where are you from bitch?”
A oldie but goodie LOL
In the 4th grade, I flunked English and was forced to go to summer school. The class was English Grammar. I spent the whole time trying to figure out what grammar meant. It didn’t help me much. When I was a senior in high school, a friend of mine gave me a thesaurus as a graduation present. Although I had improved my grammar slightly, apparently he thought I still needed some education. I felt it was a weird present, but I started reading through it.
My life was changed and I became one of those people who must find the best words to express myself. That was 50 years ago and I am still a synonym hunter.
I think I missed the day at junior school when they introduced the comma, after which I trailed behind for years. When I started the senior school (age 11 — I can never work out how these ages translate to the US grade system), one of the kids I became friends with used to open a dictionary at random and learn a “new word of the day,” which he would practice using all day. This resulted in some unusual conversations, but I ended up learning a lot of interesting words 🙂
I just saw this new one by “Weird Al” based on the presidential debate: https://youtu.be/un9x-DjTMT0 — I’d be laughing if I wasn’t crying.
In the “Word Crimes” video you’ll see a “Care-O’-Meter”. I just found some information about it. From the weirdal.fandom.com website:
…..Just thought you’d like to know……….
Thanks Rick — I LOVE leaning these tidbits of trivia and nuggets of information 🙂