* This is one version: some music-hall historians claim that she died by
cutting her neck with a penknife at St Pancras.*
You see what I'm saying? Watch my typing. People can't even agree about
what killed Lottie Collins much less what's obscene. Philosophy is the
only field of study where there's no definitively wrong theory.
On Sun, Jul 26, 2015 at 8:23 AM, Redacted sender Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx for
DMARC <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In a message dated 7/25/2015 2:33:32 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
jejunejesuit.geary2@xxxxxxxxx writes:
"Mike Geary
Whistling obscene songs in Memphis."
This is an interesting topic.
Witters couldn't whistle. Ramsey, his 'intimate' friend, poked fun on
that.
On hearing Ramsey once Witters mumble, "What you cannot say, you can show",
he retorted, sarcastically, "But you can't whistle it!"
Witters was so offended that from that time onwards he learned to whistle.
When Pope Gregorio was dictating what the Church should mean by 'obscene'
publication ("to be burned," being the implicature), he rambled on the
etymology. In his letters to his 'confidante', Gregorio wrote:
"I sometimes think that obscenity is like time: as Saint Augustine said,
you know what it is but at the same time you don't. Yet, after all, the
Roman
Church is built on the Roman Empire, and so our Catholic concept of
obscenity should be built on what CICERO found obscene. Cicero in his
"Dialogue
to Attico" wrote, "Varro, a friend of mine, once told me that "obscenus"
comes from "ob" but also from "cænum", filth. Varro adds, "we say "ob" as
when
we say that Marius is "into" filth." On the other hand, Varro told me that
this may be all wrong, and 'obscenus' may be Etruscan (i.e. barbaric) in
origin." I intend to follow Cicero and define something obscene if it is
'into' (ob) 'filth' (cænum). This leaves the Bible safely as unobscene."
Bowlder found Gregorius's definition of 'obscenity' otiose. He writes: "A
song may be obscene: but there is a nice way to 'clean' it: you whistle.
Thus, you CAN have your cake and eat it: you whistle an obscene song when
you
whistle a song which has obscene lyrics that the whistling hides."
His friend Willoughby objected that a tune itself can be 'obscene'. He gave
an example: "Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay": "Anyone who has seen Lottie Collins
whistling THAT tune SHOULD find it obscene."
When the news reached Lottie, it all had an encouraging effect on her,
which alas led to her death: as she is said to have died on stage*
frenetically
dancing the tune as the audience sang the chorus.
Cheers,
Speranza
* This is one version: some music-hall historians claim that she died by
cutting her neck with a penknife at St Pancras.
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