Saturday, March 20, 2021

 

They told me that your name was Fontibell.

 -Bertram

All’s Well That Ends Well               Act IV, Scene ii, Line 1

How interesting that this would be today’s line. Early this morning (late last night), my wife and I became grandparents for the first time. They had told us previously that the name was going to be Penelope or Marcelina. However, we have been informed that the new arrival’s name is Priscilla. Priscilla Marcelina. So when I meet her I won’t be able to say ‘They told me that your name was Fontibell’, but I will be able to say ‘They told me that your name was Priscilla.’ Of course, since they live in Denver I won’t be meeting her for a while. And even when I do meet her, it’ll probably be a few years before Priscilla will be able to understand what I’m saying to her. But that’s okay.

 

I was going to post a pic of Priscilla, but I realized that that would be very presumptuous of me to post her picture on the internet. So I won't do that. Take my word for it: she's a little cutie. And here's a picture of my own little cutie. Her names not Fontibell either, it's Nina. No one had to tell me that, because we gave her that name. But you can say it if you want. You can say 'They told me that your name was Nina.'

 

3 comments:

Squeaksy said...

Is this line in meter though? That’s the question.

Squeaksy said...

Also, I was thinking about it: are there some words that are said differently in America vs England that would only work in meter depending on where they were said?

Pete Blagys said...

Sorry, I didn't see these questions previously. The answer to the second question is definitely yes. However, the answer to the first is also yes, without any differing pronunciation.
They told
me that
your name
was Font
i bell
(you can pronounce it Font-eh-bell or Font-ee-bell. Yes, it sort of does have a double accent, once on Font and once on bell, but it works. N'est pas?)

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