Miscellaneous desk
< June 25	<< May \| June \| Jul >>	June 27 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

June 26[edit]

Making mocking melodies over folk songs[edit]

Is this possible to make a mocking/insulting melodies over O Christmas tree. This version I heard is Jingle bells batman smells is very popular, and Joy to the world, the barneys dead is quite common[1] i tried to find, but WP just eventually erased it. Is this possible there are insulting lyrics for O Christmas tree and Little brown jug. I remember I had a insulting lyrics for O Christmas tree, I can't really remember it straight right now, I have tried to come up one for little brown jug. Is there a possible insulting lyrics for Yankee doodle?--69.233.254.115 (talk) 04:02, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You seem to be asking about two things: (a) a mocking melody that fits the lyrics of "O Christmas Tree', and (b) a set of mocking lyrics that fit the melody of the same song. Correct? -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 04:38, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that is what I want to know. Also little brown jug and yankee doodle.--69.233.254.115 (talk) 04:49, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

"Little Brown Jug"? That seems kind of obscure. Not sure how you would parody this:[2] Ray Stevens parodied "In the Mood", though. As for "Yankee Doodle", it's almost a parody of itself, actually. I wonder if you would consider the words to the "Roger Ramjet" theme song a parody, or just a "borrowing"?[3] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:22, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

my parody means rude lyrics, when you sing songs like O Christmas Tree or Yankee Doodle, your purpose to retaliate somebody you may not necessarily like. Is there possible insulting rude lyrics for Little Brown jug, O Christmas Tree, Yankee Doodle, if you do this at school you may get in a big trouble.--69.233.254.115 (talk) 06:24, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I graduated from elementary school a l-o-n-g time ago. You might like these lyrics from the shivaree of "Paint Your Wagon". It has do with a gold miner, Ben Rumpson, who buys a wife from a Mormon who's passing through: "Mr. Rumpson went to town / Ridin' on a pony / Bought a wife and brought her home / And called it matrimony / Mr. Rumpson bought a bride / Out in Californy / He'd a-saved a lot of money / Stayin' drunk and horny." A little too obscure for your purposes, maybe. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 07:03, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

As I recall "O Christmas Tree" is the tune to the Red Flag, which has been endlessly parodied. Schoolchildren, since time immemorial, have been writing their own lyrics to tunes, and no doubt you will also have written your own. --TammyMoet (talk) 11:21, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The song you meant to link is at The Red Flag. The questioner may also be interested in filk music or "Weird Al" Yankovic. Rmhermen (talk) 14:29, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Another well known Christmas carol parody is; "Hark the herald angels sing / Beecham's Pills are just the thing! / They are gentle, meek and mild, / Two for a woman, one for a child...". I seem to recall that this has been sung in the British House of Commons, but I can't remember why or by whom. "O Christmas tree" is almost unknown as a carol in the UK, possibly because of the tune's Socialist connection. Alansplodge (talk) 17:10, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Majority ancestry by county:light blue is German, light purple is Englsh

Wouldn't that just be because it's a German song? Germans outnumber English in the US, and my father knows the German words but not the English to O Tannenbaum. μηδείς (talk) 23:44, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Does "English" here mean English citizens living in the US, or people who recently emigrated from England to the US? As far as I know, the English language is the mother tongue of the vast majority of US citizens, so I find it very hard to believe people of German descent would outnumber people of English descent, unless that descent is very recent. But I'm not an expert here, I've never lived outside Finland, only visited there. JIP | Talk 17:38, 27 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, German is the largest self-reported ancestry in the U.S. But it is known that English is underreported or reported as American because it is not recent. Rmhermen (talk) 03:49, 28 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Socialist connection? I don't think so. We were singing it (in English) in our grade school days, in the USA, during the Red Scare. It also happens to be the same tune as the state song of Maryland. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:49, 27 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Socialist connection in Britain. I agree with Alan: it's closely associated with The Red Flag and hardly ever included in carol concerts, unlike Silent Night, a German carol. Itsmejudith (talk) 07:49, 28 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That's right. Every year in the UK, the Labour Party Annual Conference ends with the assembled throng (including the Prime Minister if they're in office) standing up and singing "Then raise the scarlet standard high. / Within its shade we'll live and die, / Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer, / We'll keep the red flag flying here." [4] As Judith says, the popularity of Silent Night proves that it's not an anti-German thing, especially as Stille Nacht was said (so the legend goes) to have been first heard by Britons across no-man's land during the Christmas truce of 1914. Hayden's Emperor's Hymn (aka Deutschland Über Alles) is a popular hymn tune in the Church of England, although I recall that eyebrows were raised when it was played at a service at Westminster Abbey to mark the Queen's silver wedding. Alansplodge (talk) 00:19, 29 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Interesting; I had no idea that tune ever had a left-wing connection of any kind. In the Scouts we used to sing these lyrics to the O Tannenbaum melody:

Swiftly fades the light of day

As our campfire fades away

Silently each Scout should ask

"Have I done my daily task?

"Have I kept my honor bright?

"Can I guiltless face the night?

"Oh have I done, and have I dared

"Everything to be prepared?"

I will now not mention Tom Lehrer. --Trovatore (talk) 22:56, 29 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Christmas songs have been parodied by everyone, including Stan Freberg, Allan Sherman, Tom Lehrer, Al Yankovic, and many others on Dr. Demento's playlist. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" might be the one most-parodied, since it's so easy. However, I don't recall much being done to "O Tannenbaum". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:17, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

While shepherds washed their socks by night / All seated 'round the tub / A bar of Sunlight soap came down / And they began to scrub - is mentioned in the talk section of the carol, but not the main page. --TrogWoolley (talk) 19:39, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

For Little Brown Jug (song) I remember that one.

   The rose is red, my nose is too,
   The violet's blue and so are you;
   And yet, I guess, before I stop,
   We'd better take another drop.

i have tried to make up one version for myself using that template expect I revised some version to make it more intense. I think I have tried to make up a parody for O Christmas Tree, "She went on the 605, and got lost in El Monte, and the signs are green, she is sick and green, (I forgot the rest). And for Deck the halls, the common lyric is deck the halls with poison ivy fallala....--69.233.254.115 (talk) 22:23, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

"My roses are blue, my violets are black, I work at a florists', and I'm getting the sack". KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 17:58, 28 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, and don't forget Pogo's "Deck the halls with Boston Charlie, Walla Walla Wash and Kalamazoo". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:51, 27 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

In response to JIP, yes, more Americans are of German than English descent. According to a chart at Race and ethnicity in the United States, 42.8 percent of Americans claim some German ancestry, 30.5% claim Irish, 24.9% claim African, 24.5% claim English, 20.2% claim "American" (meaning white of unknown nationality) 18.4% Mexican, followed by Italian, Polish, French, American Indian, Scotch, Dutch, and so on. Those claiming "American" descent almost uniformly live in Appalachia and are likely of mostly mixed British and some Indian descent. Note that outside rural New England only Utah is majority English, this because the Mormons were largely English and settled Utah before the great waves of Irish and continental settlers after the Civil War. μηδείς (talk) 01:34, 28 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

"Questionable insertion" in CVR transcripts[edit]

I have noticed that on CVR transcripts released by the NTSB, words with parentheses () are labeled "questionable insertion[s]." My interpretation of this symbol is that the words are not entirely unintelligible (otherwise they would have been labeled with *, which means unintelligible word), but that the words in the parentheses are only guesses since it is not possible to determine with 100% certainty (probably due to less than perfect audio quality) what was really being said at those moments. Is my understanding of this correct? 24.47.141.254 (talk) 05:16, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Links added for clarification Rojomoke (talk) 05:37, 26 June 2013 (UTC) [reply]

Gluten Allergies[edit]

What does it happen when a person who is gluten allergic eats something that contains it? Ms.Bono^(zootalk)^☆ 14:27, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Our article on gluten sensitivity covers that: the most common symptoms are bloating, abdominal discomfort or pain, constipation or diarrhea. Looie496 (talk) 14:36, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! Ms.Bono^(zootalk)^☆ 14:39, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Another one about this. Can one knows if a new born child is gluten allergic or just time will tell? Ms.Bono^(zootalk)^☆ 14:46, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

This happens to be an interest of mine but as we don't give medical advice I will only provided the the basics. A neonate's natural food is mothers milk until it starts to be weaned. A gluten intolerant child can then produce pale, foul-smelling stools, wind, bloating and poor growth. If a gluten free diet resolves these symptoms, only for them to return when cereals are reintroduced (the challenge, re-challenge protocol) then they are likely to be gluten intolerant.--Aspro (talk) 15:09, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Aspro thank you! :). I was not asking for medical advice, just basic stuffs. That helped a lot. I am writing a story and I needed that information. (sorry the ignorance, but mothers milk contains gluten?) Ms.Bono^(zootalk)^☆ 15:17, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Mothers milk does not contain gluten. Its due to some reason like, the large Dalton size of the protein molecule wont pass into to the mammary gland - but don’t quote my on that (and why other ~~quacks~~ clinicians still use Dalton's as a unit of mass - don't ask me that either). If you are a professional writer that can claim back the cost of all research material, then consider getting hold of a book by a prominent UK researcher and scientist that specialises in this area -[5] The book only has a little bit about gluten but he is an authority on this subject.---Aspro (talk)

If you're writing about this, one thing you should be aware of is that "gluten allergy" is currently a sort of fad, and there are lots of people who claim to have it who probably don't. I'm kind of surprised that our article doesn't have any discussion of that phenomenon. Looie496 (talk) 16:10, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

What's your source for that? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:21, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

My main source is seeing numerous people claim to be gluten-sensitive without having any solid evidence, but see for example http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-katz-md/gluten-free-diet_b_907027.html; there are many more. Looie496 (talk) 16:44, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Excellent writeup. That doctor should write our article! ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:14, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I am not a pro writer and I cannot afford buying such book. I was looking for an allergy for a baby and I found gluten's allergy interesting. Ms.Bono^(zootalk)^☆ 16:39, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hey, guys! can you point out another not common allergy for my character? Ms.Bono^(zootalk)^☆ 17:18, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

List of allergens has no information on how common the various allergies are, but it seems like a good starting point for you to explore allergies. 209.131.76.183 (talk) 18:57, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you so much nice IP address (I dont know your name)! :) Ms.Bono^(zootalk)^☆ 19:10, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

reference links usually deleted[edit]

I read an article and link a site grinpix.com that was an adequate reference to the article but the link was deleted, just want to why — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.206.11.40 (talk) 21:49, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It's hard to imagine how that site could be a useful reference for anything. What article are you referring to? Looie496 (talk) 22:11, 26 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

We have a set of guidelines on what constitutes a valid reference for an article - see WP:RS - it's hard to imagine a site with just a bunch of lame "joke" photographs being a valid reference under those rules. SteveBaker (talk) 03:48, 27 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Except maybe for an article focusing on those kinds of jokes. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:06, 27 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]