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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Unfamiliarity with the usurious Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice” has evidently led to the recasting of a shylock into an incongruous shy lark. Maybe there is no sense to this; maybe there is a connection to being shy, as in short of funds.
Market Watch:
It seems like every time someone turns a rock over they find another hooligan, thief or shy-lark under the stone.
(snippet from www.marketwatch.com/news/story/fomc-saw … 76-B73B…)
Issues of the day:
Citicorp, which has made a fortune charging shy lark interest rates for its credit card holders
(http://moeissuesoftheday.blogspot.com/2 … chive.html)
Extended blog story about thinking that a shylock was a shylark:
The whole time they kept talking about a movie idea (based on Chilly’s life) revolving around a drycleaner running from a shylock who’s after him to make good on his loan from a mob boss. I’d never heard the term before – in fact I kept thinking they were saying shylark – what with the Brooklyn mafia accents and all. I thought I was pretty cool learning a new vocab word.
(http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:Ggk … =firefox-a)
Original lyrics (not mondegreen):
The shylark on the corner said,
“The heat won’t get no hotter”
He said Sonny got whacked
For skimmin’ money from his father
He wore vanilla shoes
And he looked like Jake LaMotta
(http://www.mollicaentertainment.com/lyrics.html)
Last edited by burred (2009-05-23 19:59:28)
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