July 30, 2007

The Affliction of McGonagall

Speaking of dystaglia (my now preferred term for longing for crappy times, based on dystopia), an amusing kerfuffle arises over a bad scottish poet, William McGonagall.


"It must have been an awful sight,
To witness in the dusky moonlight,
While the Storm Fiend did laugh, and angry did bray,
Along the Railway Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay,
Oh! ill-fated Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay,
I must now conclude my lay
By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay,
That your central girders would not have given way,
At least many sensible men do say,
Had they been supported on each side with buttresses,
At least many sensible men confesses,
For the stronger we our houses do build,
The less chance we have of being killed."





1 Comments:

Blogger JAB said...

Noted- I quoted this the day before the bridge collapsed in Minneapolis. The lesson: even excruciatingly bad poems can contain useful engineering principles.

The day before Katrina hit I wrote, and then removed as unwarranted, a post urging much more action: call out the guard, send in the marines, get Bush off his duff, etc.

Have I stumbled on a secret channel of prescience?

Gosh, I hope not.

August 3, 2007 at 10:15 AM  

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