In responding to my article PLUS CA CHANGE, PLUS CES'T LE MEME CHOSE about kids (among them, her grandsons) not wearing their coats in the winter, my friend Patty wrote:
"When I was younger, Mom bought some of our clothes from Goodwill. We were poor like you. Once, Mom brought home the ugliest coat I have ever seen in my life. It was gray with huge shoulder pads and furry tassels on it. Really ugly. I wasn't too picky, but I knew I wasn't going to wear that damn coat. I went off to school in it, and immediately put it in the cloak room where I planned keeping it. At recess I was out in freezing temperature with no coat. The teacher blew me in by calling my mom. I could tell Mom felt very bad when she got home from work, but somehow she had a new, stylish coat for me. I have no idea how much she sacrificed for that coat. I also had a horrid pair of brown shoes (in a tuxedo world) in the 6th grade. Other than that, I think I looked pretty good in my hand-me-downs and Goodwill outfits."
I love to have Patty's comments because they are always very witty. I replied that her message was evocative of the song Scarlet Ribbons by The Browns! I also wrote that the term "cloak room" MUST be removed from our vocabularies because it's another one of those terms which make us sound old!
However, when people come to my home, I do like to say, "May I take your wrap?"
But the best part of Patty's response was this: "I also had a horrid pair of brown shoes (in a tuxedo world)". Of course, this was a reference to an appearance by George Gobel on The Tonight Show. Bob Hope and Dean Martin had already appeared on the show and when Lonesome George came out he asked, "Did you ever feel like life was a tuxedo and you were a pair of brown shoes?"
1 comment:
And remember, Dean Martin was flicking ashes in poor George's drink! ML
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