Friday, February 14, 2014

a poem for the day by W.B. Yeats . . . sort of

I guess Michael and I make our fun in unconventional ways. Lately it has been discussing the plural of "meat loaf." He prefers "meat loafs," while I, even though I don't eat them, prefer "meat loaves," which I happily make for him, but only one at a time. Then there is the related question about the plural of beef. If you count a reference to a word that comes from the 13th-Century French plural of boeuf, "beeves" is actually acceptable. I prefer to think of the plural of beef as beef, like the German Rindfleisch, which is the same in singular or plural.

Here's the poem:



The only reference I found online to "Rindfleishen" was for a few Irish stew recipes. A little serendipity, considering the poem, which you can see in its first home here.

Happy Valentine's Day!

3 comments:

Rachel said...

:) <#

Anonymous said...

O'Stew in yer own juices,
I Guinness ye might know,
As yer Pub-lish yer wee block
As a Leddy, sure-n-b-go;
It might be free or may be knot,
Dependent on that glass,
Half as full as half as empty,
While sittin on yer a....

-- Boeuf sûr la table

Elaine Fine said...

I raise a glass to you, Boeuf!