To try to relate my "improve your vocab" post to costumes: I love Handel, particularly the oratorio "L'allegro, Il Penseroso, et il Moderato" which is [mostly] Milton set to music. Now I don't sit around the pool reading Milton [might be nice though] but because Handel set his English verse to very nice catchy tunes, one tends to learn the words and sing along. One fine tenor aria is "I'll to the well trod stage anon." The second line being "If Johnson's learned sock be on." What? What the hell does that mean? The next line is "Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child," so "Johnson" refers to Ben Johnson, a younger contemporary of Shakespeare. But his "sock"? His "learned" knitted footwear is laying on the stage? So I looked up "sock"... one definition I didn't know was: 3 a : a shoe worn by actors in Greek and Roman comedy b : comic drama. [there...a costume reference]
So "Johnson's learned sock" is one of his comedies....which are full of biting satire so there's also an implication toward a punch, smack! See...improved vocab skills and costuming the feet. **************Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides. (http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000016) _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
