15 March 2010

A Little Gershwin to Start the Week

Today in Editing, we were discussing parallelism. The OED lists "parallelism" as "The quality or character of being parallel or analogous; correspondence or similarity between two or more things."
Example: I love to dance, swing, and play piano. But not: I love dancing, to swim, and playing the piano.
Anyway, so we're discussing parallelism and my teacher pulls up some lyrics to I've Got Rhythm by George Gershwin. He then proceeds to ask "Okay, who'll sing it for us? Hmm? Anyone?" Of course, no one says anything. He keeps asking and it's clear that the lecture will not continue until someone gives in and sings the four lines up on the PowerPoint. So, from the back of the room, I bust out with "I've got rhythm, I've got music, I've got my man -- Who could ask for anything more?"
My teacher and peers applaud (my teacher out of enthusiasm, my peers from relief that they didn't have to sing in class) and then my teacher says "Your fiancé is a lucky man!" Awkward. But I love Brother Gardner. Sweet, old man.
If you are unfamiliar with the song, click here to see the original cast perform I've Got Rhythm from Crazy for You. The main character, Polly Baker, is played by Jodi Benson who also happens to be the voice of Ariel in Disney'sThe Little Mermaid.

2 comments:

Ransom said...

"I love to dance, swing, and play piano. But not: I love dancing, to swim, and playing the piano."

Freudian slip much? =)

Laura said...

Good job, Denise! Way to show them all how it's done!