Talk:Ogden Nash

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I would love to put a poem of his here but copyright forbids. *sigh* --drj

I see there's a poem of his here, and there's one been added recently to Turtle. Are either of these in the public domain now? I'm guessing "no". --Paul Drye

I would have thought they can be quoted under fair use, but I'm no expert. --Sam 20:36, 23 Dec 2003 (UTC)
Also one in Wendigo. Nash's first published poetry came out in 1931, so it should all still be under copyright.--Ed Cherlin 4:18, 9 Aug 2005 (UTC)

I removed the quote :But where there's a monster there's a miracle because I can't find reference to it in my Ogden Nash compendium - it certainly isn't famous enough to be listed here. There are some Internet references to the line being said by an "Ogden Ash" but even that seems dubious. - DavidWBrooks 11:57, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

It's from Dragons are Too Seldom, in the collection Many Long Years Ago, published in 1945.--Ed Cherlin 4:26, 9 Aug 2005 (UTC)

I almost removed the long quote from Thomas Hood's 1826 poem, "Our Village," which seems like overkill in an article this size. Any thoughts? - DavidWBrooks 12:15, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Since it's not a very familiar poem, and since it doesn't seem to be available online, I put back a couple of lines... inline, so they look different from Nash's--because I don't think the point is clear without them. Dpbsmith (talk) 19:33, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
(Wow: Seven months later, a response! Patience is rewarded on wikipedia) Personally, I think the point is unnecessary unless there is evidence that Nash was influenced by this poem; right now it sounds like a coincidence, possibly irrelevant, that somebody noticed and wanted to mention. - DavidWBrooks 20:34, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Baha'i?

Someone has added Nash's name to the List of Bahá'í_individuals, and added that as a category to this article - but they haven't added any information about that to the article. Does anyone know any more about this? Since Baha'is are non drinkers, and "Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker" is perhaps Nash's best known short poem, I find it... surprising. PaulHammond 19:46, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

He's mentioned on Adherents.com as being one. As for "Candy...", we rarely get to choose what others remember us for. -- WikiMarshall 07:23, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] addition

I just removed a very long and unformatted, but well-written and informative, addition from an anonymous IP with no wikipedia history, partly because it repeated already here, but most because it arrived in such form that it looked like something that had been cut-and-pasted from a biography - and a huge edit like that from a complete newbie must, alas, be regarded with suspicion. If I am in error and the IP would like to re-insert it the material, perhaps we could discuss it here and figure out how best to integrate it into the existing article. - DavidWBrooks 23:50, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Footnote after poem "The Lama"

I am doing a report on ogden nash. I was reading the article and after the poem the lama, there was a footnote. And it said :the authors attention has been called to a type of conflagiration called a three-alarmer.Pooh. Is the word "pooh" supposed to be there, and if so why? I am very confused 209.247.5.219 20:44, 7 May 2007 (UTC)Matto-94

That's technically known as "vandalism", and is a consequence of the wikipedia policy that "any moron can edit". Wahkeenah 23:04, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
No, it's actually what Nash wrote. Think of it as an expression of mild annoyance upon learning that his poem was somewhat inaccurate. - EurekaLott 13:53, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
We are too conditioned to look for stuff like that as being vandalism. Wahkeenah 14:25, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

thanks guys, oh, and i did a little more research on the poem and i found every other website had the word "pooh" after the footnote, so i guess nash really did write it. thanks for your help anyway209.247.5.219 20:32, 8 May 2007 (UTC)Matto-94

As an r-dropping New Zealander, I'm interested that three-alarmer and three-l lllama are considered close enough to satisfy the American ear as a disproof of Nash's thesis here. Would "alarmer" count as a rhyme for "pyjama" with Americans? It's an exact rhyme for a New Zealander (other than a Southlander or South Otago-ite) and (I'm reasonably sure) most r-dropping British speakers. Is the vowel even the same? I have an idea that American "pyjamas" differs from our "pyjamas" as their "glass" differs from ours. Koro Neil (talk) 16:55, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

People born in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions in Nash's time, particularly middle and upper-class ones, would indeed have dropped the R, as some New Yorkers and Bostoners still do today. Nash was born in New York, raised in Rhode Island, and educated at Harvard-- he would most surely have dropped his R's. The "Standard Midwestern" accent was not nearly as pervasive at the time the poem was written as it is today.--Kajerm (talk) 14:44, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Shortest Poem (Guinness)

I understand copyright issues, but surely quoting a few lines here and there is fair use? Some mention should be made of Nash holding the distinction of authoring the shortest poem in the English language, per Guinness. The poem is titled "On the Antiquity of Fleas" and the entire poem reads:

Adam
Had 'em

Surely Guinness didn't have to pay Nash's estate royalties to report this fact in their book -- I see no reason why it shouldn't be included in the article.StanislavJ 23:50, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

I agree, including something like that probably wouldn't be an issue. However, I think most of the rest of the article with it's lengthy poem quotations probably needs to be cleaned up. Wikipedia isn't for quotes after all. Stardust8212 00:10, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

I did a massive clean-up, as full poems aren't fair use. Thanks Jaranda wat's sup 19:10, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

It looks loads better, well done. Stardust8212 19:53, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Breaking the Ice

At some point in the late 60's he added

Pot
Is not.

Wikeph (talk) 21:12, 24 May 2008 (UTC)