Frog Applause by Teresa Burritt for June 12, 2023

I’m letting somebody else head for the dictionary. Noblesse oblige?! Noble? Obligation? Hmmm. I’ll give it a few minutes. Randy B should be by soon. He knows everything…

Is a sham a pillow? Thanks for making me feel extra stupid, Sister T!

Is that Harriet from Little House on the Prairie?

I found it.

https://www.antonym.com/antonyms/noblesse-oblige

noun. the obligation of those of high rank to be honorable and generous (often used ironically).

Include pronunciation.

In French, noblesse oblige means literally “nobility obligates.” French speakers transformed the phrase into a noun, which English speakers picked up in the 19th century. Then, as now, noblesse oblige referred to the unwritten obligation of people from a noble ancestry to act honorably and generously to others. Later, by extension, it also came to refer to the obligation of anyone who is in a better position than others—due, for example, to high office or celebrity—to act respectably and responsibly.

Unwashed! I just took a bath last month.

…I queer time of year to be thinking of Boxing Day…

…yet, Christianity spread through the upper crust of Roman society through the slave servants to their mistresses…

…while general daddy was with the boys…

…those that were not yet disposed by the lions and pot kettles…

…converted the mommies …

…& the mommies converted the children…

…Charlemagne…

…to his good senses…

…rode the wave…

…and gave his own, I have a dream speech…

…nowadays…

…in God we trust is on all of our monies…

…cash…

…the mighty buck…

…the purest form…

…the truest form…

…of socialism…

…is exalted no higher than the corporate world that is America…

…us Americans are especially good at it…

…that’s all fine and well, Norm…

…I was just wondering if you were going to start a tab, or what?…

…I was getting to that, my good man…

…but, now, I need another beer…

Time to treat the hoi polloi to a mass washing.

Tom Drooly, exchanging spit gets one high. Hug a pillow and even use pillow talk to split the stone in two. Pass the gass filled order on and donate the old then buy new used one at half the price.

Horse, lead us back to the stall in our barn. The old gal sure looks like a black beauty.

Don’t forget to donate your used silk shorts, and write it off on your taxes.

But don’t expect gratitude for your efforts.

The rocks and washboards were hard on her hands! Not to mention dragging the shams back and forth to the river and back…it’s easier to donate and buy new than to do the backbreaking work by the waters edge!

I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.

Oh, that’s right. That’s what I saw in you, dear. [Sigh.]

It’s because I’m not doing my reading homework (on the Blog) that I keep flunking the quizzes.

Wow. Flashing back to high school, where I didn’t even have the excuse of being distracted by girls. (He/him here.) (And we all had to wear jackets and ties and sing hymns in assembly.)

If Edward Bulwer-Lytton was alive this would kill him.

(If H.L. Mencken was alive this would infuriate him.)

All the giving and getting can wear you inside-and-out …!

( shams too, to, two, tutu )

Shams are only a dream for many.

what about the horse?

Sounds like a whole lotta sham-wow to me.

Sigh.

Well, my dear, they had better wash before touching my clean Shams! Your noblesse oblige reeks of what the news mavens are wont to call “virtue signaling”! Now, get this buggy in gear (so to speak) and let’s roll!