Last inauguration post

OK.  I listened to the speech at my desk today and was struck by the Shakespearean overtones.  The NY Times ran a piece a couple of days ago noting that the President's celebrated communication skills spring from a love of literature and reading.  Indeed.  The speech has been called prosaic by Obama standards.   Perhaps, but check out the closing paragraph.  He claims to be paraphrasing Washington,

in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents

but I thought I could hear in the tempo and the tone

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.

BHO, the sun of York? Perhaps he's not the messiah but Ra the sun god?

There's also a hint of the old ``Once more unto the breach dear friends..." perhaps Barry channeling Harry? Hey, it's a bit bloodthirsty, but a great charging speech.

Also note the reference in the next line to ``what storms may come'' an echo from Hamlet's``what dreams may come.'' Hamlet was not having happy thoughts and the dreams were those of an imagined afterlife. Likewise, Richard's warm words for his brother, the ``sun of York'' were uttered while plotting his overthrow. Perhaps I'm overanalyzing a bit, but that's pretty dreary stuff. There is, I suppose, an enormous mess to clean up. It was fun to watch W sit there and listen to his administration being eviscerated in the inaugural address though.

I believe

I am pretty sure Ted Kennedy died yesterday and the new president called him back. That's what I'm telling them over here anyway.

Word of the day

Haag.  Woods, forest, or hunting grounds.  As in s'Graven Haag, the Duke's forest that became Den Haag, known in the english world as the Hague.  It was never incorporated as a city  and today the parliment meets in the old hunting lodge. 

Factoid

 I finally figured out why I can't hear the difference between g and ch: there is none.  Apparently though, the guttural  g, which is the most distintcive of sounds in Dutch and is easily apparent as a hacking, coughing sound, is sometimes simply made silent.  I gain new respect for the twisted world of english pronunciation everyday.