Tuesday 8 September 2015

The Law is an A...

And the judge says: That veil is too long.
And the girl takes off the veil
That she has stuck onto her hat with a pin,
" Not a veil," she says, " 'at's a scarf."
And the judge says:
      Don't you know you aren't allowed all those buttons?
And she says: Those ain't buttons, them's bobbles,
Can't you see there ain't any button-holes?
And the Judge says: Well, anyway,
      you're not allowed ermine.
" Ermine? " the girl says, " Not ermine, that ain't,
" 'At's lattizzo."
And the judge says: And just what is a lattizzo?
And the girl says:
                             " It'z a animal."

Signori, you go and enforce it.

Ezra Pound from Canto XXII - A Draft of XXX Cantos (1930)

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