An Anguish Languish Christmas
My first encounter with Anguish Languish was in The Next Whole Earth Catalog where it is illustrated by the story "Ladle Rat Rotten Hut." It was invented by Professor Howard L. Chace, who used it to teach his French language students that intonation was key to understanding another language. In 1956, Chace published a book on Anguish Languish with stories such as "Guilty Looks Enter Tree Beers" and songs such as "Hormone Derange."
The idea behind Anguish Languish is there are so many words in English that sound similar that if half our vocabulary were to disappear, we could probably still be understood using the other half. You probably had little trouble understanding that "Anguish Languish" is "English language" in Anguish Languish, and the two stories and the song mentioned are "Little Red Riding Hood," "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" and "Home on the Range." If you did, well, now you know. By the way, the poem's alternate title, "The Night Before Christmas," would be "Thud Knight Beef Oar Crispness" in Anguish Languish.
Moore's classic Christmas poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas," along with German-American illustrator Thomas Nast's art, as shown in this lens, had a lot to do with the development of the Santa Claus story and what Santa looks like in the United States. The poem was first published in 1823. Nast's illustrations date from the second half of the 19th century, with most of them appearing in Harper's Weekly magazine.
Anguish Languish works best if it's read aloud. If you're still puzzled, the Anguish Languish poem is followed by "A Visit from St. Nicholas" as it was originally written.
A Poem by Clam-hand Seymour
MobyD's Anguish Languish Version
Hay Visage form Sane Ticklish
By Clam-hand Seymour
Truss denied beef oar Crispness, win ol' Trudy Howes
Nordic reacher walls tearing, nod event aim house;
Dull stalkings war hunk bite a chimp knee wick air,
Ann Hoops dead Sane Ticklish zoom wood beat hair;
Dutch hill din where nuzzled alls knock inner bets,
Wild fissions oaf shirker-plunks dense dinner hats;
Hand Muumuu inner kirk sheaf, hand iron mike cat,
Hedges saddled are brines furrow lunk win terse snap
Win newt honor long dare arrows Sedgewick clabber,
High sprain foamy bet two sea watt wasp damn adder.
Highway tudor winter high flue liquor flesh,
Tow rope in dull shudders hand through upper slash;
Dull moan, honey breads off dull Newfoundland's know,
Caver lust her off mitt-denied two hob jets bull owe;
Win, wad Tormé one daring ice shoulder peer,
Butter Minnie at your slay, hand ate tinny reigned ear,
Width hey ladle load dry verse sew life lee hank wick,
Eye new winner moan meant id muss pea Sane Tick.
Moe rabid Denny gulls hiss corset stay cane,
Andy weasled, end show Ted, ankled dam pine aim:
"New, Dashboard! new, Denser, new Prankster ham Fixin's!
Um, Comic! um, Cuspid! um Donkey ham Blintzes!
Trudy Topper deep Porsche, Trudy Topper dew awl!
New dasher weigh, dasher weigh, dasher weigh, haul!"
Asp try leaps debt beef oar DeWilde hurry crane fry,
Windy meat width end octopus, mound Trudy Sky,
Sew, hup Trudy how-stop dull corsets day flue,
Width E slay fuller toils - hand Sane Ticklish, two.
End den inner tinkling eye herd honor Ruth
Deep rinsing hand pouring huff itch ladle hoop.
Has eye drooling mine had, hand wasp darning our hound,
Dandy chimp knee Sane Ticklish cane width ape browned.
Hay wasp tressed hauling far frame hiss had two is food,
Andy's close wear awl tar knish twit hash ass end zoot;
Hay bungle oft oys hee-hawed flunk honest black,
Andy lugged leaker paddler jest hope ending hiss plaque.
Hiss size howdy tinkled! Hiss dim pals hew Mary!
Hiss cheats warlike rows is, hiss knows lighter chair he;
Hissed roll ladle mouse walls drown nope lighter beau,
Andy beer down hiss shin wasp has wide hazards know.
Day stomp offer pie pea Hal tie Dennis teat,
Andy small kit in circus 'tis had leaker reef;
Hee-hawed ape rod phase Andy ladle runt Billy
Debt choke whinny left, leaker bowel fuller chili.
Hewers chumpy end plumb - air ride jelly hold Alf;
Hand eye left win eye sore ham, an spider mice elf.
Hay win coffee sigh, any twits office had,
Zoom gamy two no eye head no think two dredge.
Hay spook nodder wart, bud wind strayed Toohey smirk,
Hen Phil dollars talkings; den tern twitter chert,
Anne delaying hiss fink her upside office knows,
Anne gifting hay not, upper chimp knee heroes.
Hay sprain two hiss slay, two hiss steam cave hay weasel,
Andy weigh day haul flue leaker town offer this'll;
Bud eye her Tim eggs claim, airy trove Audi side,
"Hoopy Crispness two haul, ant two hauler goo-denied!"
A Poem by Clement C. Moore
In standard English
A Visit from St. Nicholas
By Clement C. Moore
T'was the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, --not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT."
The Night Before Christmas
by Clement C. Moore, illustrated by Mary Engelbreit
The Night Before Christmas
Amazon Price: $9.71 (as of 11/26/2009)![]()
Clement C. Moore's classic "A Visit from St. Nicholas" is dressed up in Mary Engelbreit's signature style, with plenty of detail from the furnishings of a non-stirring mouse hole to the right jolly old elf himself in a checked coat and, uh, leather bowling shoes?
A 1950s Reading of "A Visit from St. Nicholas"
Crispness Stalkings Two Phil
Forty ladle chill din, ad dolts, docks hand cads
Rude Oaf deer Head-nodes Reigned Ear
A modern classic Christmas song in Anguish Languish
Rude Oaf deer Head-nodes Reigned Ear
Hugh no Dashboard ham Denser ham Prankster ham Fixin's,
Comic ham Cuspid ham Dumber ham Blintzes
Bud due hew reek all
Duh Moe's frame us reigned ear huff awl?
Rude Oaf deer Head-nodes Reigned ear
Haddock berry Chinese nodes
Hand dip hugh waver sore hit,
Hewitt shorely see hit globes.
Olive deer udder reigned ear
Hugh stew left hand column manes.
Dane heifer leper Rude Oaf
Joy knee nanny reigned ear gains.
Den wan froggy Crispness heave,
Sander cane touché,
"Rude Oaf witch err nude soap bride,
Wan chew guyed mice lay tune hide?"
Den oldie udder reigned ear
Left hand show Ted oat quickly,
"Rude Oaf deer Head-nodes Reigned ear,
Yule go darning hipster he!"
Crispness Moo Fees
Fodder hull female lee
Sane Tick?
"Eye new winner moan meant id muss pea Sane Tick."
I was only slightly aware of Ben Edlund's superhero parody "The Tick" when I did the Anguish Languish poem, but in creating this lens, he popped into my mind when I read the line mentioning "Sane Tick" even though "sane" and "Tick" probably shouldn't be in the same sentence. There are those who believe "sane" and "MobyD" don't belong in the same sentence either. There are days when I agree with that.
Sigh Ants Friction hand Fan Tizzy fore Crispness
Reed ink debt's odder diss swirled
Share your thoughts about Hay Visage form Sane Ticklish
Write in English oar hew mite chews two rite inn Aguish Languish.
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Reply
- Evelyn_Saenz Evelyn_Saenz Dec 5, 2008 @ 4:22 pm
- Love this version and I've lensrolled you back at "Twas the Night Before Navidad.
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Reply
- naturegirl7 naturegirl7 Dec 5, 2008 @ 7:59 am
- Thanks MobyD, an das fo a fact! But I don' have trouble readin' dis' Aunguish Crispness, yes soree. I don' lensroll rite bac' at ya!
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Reply
- MobyD MobyD Dec 5, 2008 @ 12:43 am
- Y'all should check out the Cajun Night Before Christmas. Dey got no snow down dere in Cajun-land, so St. Nick, he go 'bout in a skiff wid de gators pullin' it. Laissez le bon temps rouler!
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Reply
- Mortira Mortira Nov 27, 2008 @ 1:32 am
- This was so much fun! It definately helps to read the poem out loud. Thanks so much for sharing this fun diversion! 5 stars and a 'roll to my holiday story books lens!
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Reply
- nooranwer nooranwer Nov 24, 2008 @ 3:44 pm
- Hello Moby...I am regularly reading your lenses and I always get some wonderful ideas from your lenses......Once again its another great lens from you :)
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