Consider Pope's line that cannot exist orally:
To give up Cicero to C or K.
However you read it, the nature of the scholarly dispute is hidden.
Carrol
Terry Traynor wrote:
>
> >At school one afternoon, little Johnny put his hand up and
> asked,
>
> >"Miss, Miss, what does the expression "Tore his leather"
> mean?"
>
> >The teacher replied, "I'm sorry, Johnny, what's the
> context?"
>
> >"Well, Miss, it says here 'Robin Hood tore his leather
> jerkin off.'"
>
> Rick, thanks for the laugh.
>
> It's pretty evident that the humor relies partially on the confusion
> about whether "off" belongs to "tore" (tore off) or to "jerkin"
> (jerkin off), and partially on the use of a homonym ("jerkin" the noun
> in the phrase "leather jerkin" and "jerkin" the verb in the phrase
> "jerkin off"). But would the humor work orally? I'm thinking of the
> difference between saying "Ice cream" and "I scream." You can't say it
> both ways simultaneously. Similarly, the vocal intonation in the
> wordplay above would either be as little Johnny would do it -
>
> Robin Hood tore his leather jerkin off.
>
> or the other way -
>
> Robin Hood tore his leather jerkin off.
>
> I wonder about the different ways one could orally deliver the last
> four lines of "The Hollow Men."
>
> Terry
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