Alastair Campbell has caught it! He has caught . . .

the WHANGDEPOOTENAWAH!


WHANGDEPOOTENAWAH, n.
In the Ojibwa tongue, disaster; an unexpected affliction that strikes hard.

Should you ask me whence this laughter,
Whence this audible big-smiling,
With its labial extension,
With its maxillar distortion
And its diaphragmic rhythmus
Like the billowing of an ocean,
Like the shaking of a carpet,
I should answer, I should tell you:
From the great deeps of the spirit,
From the unplummeted abysmus
Of the soul this laughter welleth
As the fountain, the gug-guggle,
Like the river from the canon,
To entoken and give warning
That my present mood is sunny.
Should you ask me further question --
Why the great deeps of the spirit,
Why the unplummeted abysmus
Of the soule extrudes this laughter,
This all audible big-smiling,
I should answer, I should tell you
With a white heart, tumpitumpy,
With a true tongue, honest Injun:
Allie Campbell, he has Caught It,
Caught the Whangdepootenawah!

Is't the sandhill crane, the shankank,
Standing in the marsh, the kneedeep,
Standing silent in the kneedeep
With his wing-tips crossed behind him
And his neck close-reefed before him,
With his bill, his william, buried
In the down upon his bosom,
With his head retracted inly,
While his shoulders overlook it?
Does the sandhill crane, the shankank,
Shiver grayly in the north wind,
Wishing he had died when little,
As the sparrow, the chipchip, does?
No 'tis not the Shankank standing,
Standing in the gray and dismal
Marsh, the gray and dismal kneedeep.
No, 'tis peerless Master Campbell
Realizing that he's Caught It,
Caught the Whangdepootenawah!

(abject apologies the Ambrose Bierce's "Devil's Dictionary")

Best read aloud, somewhat inebriated, in one's best Foghorn Leghorn voice.

And Alistair Campbell is certainly in the midst of his own Whangdepootenawah at this moment.

this was new to me. Thanks so much, I enjoyed it.

note: having a little trouble with foghorn-leghorn voice.....

and available around the web, when you need a perspective or insight "off-the-shelf".

DEPENDENT, adj.
Reliant upon another's generosity for the support which you are not in a position to exact from his fears.

DEPUTY, n.
A male relative of an office-holder, or of his bondsman. The deputy is commonly a beautiful young man, with a red necktie and an intricate system of cobwebs extending from his nose to his desk. When accidentally struck by the janitor's broom, he gives off a cloud of dust.

POLITICS, n.
A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

POLITICIAN, n.
An eel in the fundamental mud upon which the superstructure of organized society is reared. When we wriggles he mistakes the agitation of his tail for the trembling of the edifice. As compared with the statesman, he suffers the disadvantage of being alive.

Get it all here:
http://www.alcyone.com/max/lit/devils/

No matter how many times, I cannot read the deputy one without LOL.

I'm off to bookmark it now. :)