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Conference thebay::joyoflex

Title:The Joy of Lex
Notice:A Notes File even your grammar could love
Moderator:THEBAY::SYSTEM
Created:Fri Feb 28 1986
Last Modified:Mon Jun 02 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1192
Total number of notes:42769

1057.0. "J is the ??? that's never behind" by HERON::KAISER () Tue Jul 20 1993 03:22

An American folksong "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (one of a number of
occupational alphabets that use the same tune) has one term I've never been
able to find in a standard dictionary.  Can someone help?  More or less
phonetically, the line is

	J is the joval that's never behind

So what's a "joval"?  And how's it really spelled?

___Pete
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1057.1NRSTA2::KALIKOWPartially sage, & rarely on timeTue Jul 20 1993 08:568
    Howzabout some context beyond the one line?  Yah, I know that the terms
    don't have to be related line-by-line, but it might help set the
    general tenor of the terms being referenced...?
    
    /s/ Dan, who stirs his coffee with his thumb
    
    :-)
    
1057.2One verse + chorusHERON::KAISERTue Jul 20 1993 12:0113
	I is the Iron for marking the pine,
	J is the Joval that's never behind,
	K is the keen edge our axes do keep
	And L is the Lice that over us creep.

	Chorus;	So merry, so merry, so merry are we
		No mortals on earth as happy as we
		Dee-idery-odery-idery-down
		Give shantymen grog and there's nothing goes wrong

Unless you want the entire song, of course.

___Pete
1057.3PRSSOS::MAILLARDDenis MAILLARDWed Jul 21 1993 03:228
    Re .0: Pete, is there any chance of French Canadian influence on this
    song? I don't know if that makes sense, but in the part of Quebec
    called Beauce (South of Saint-Lawrence, between Quebec and Montreal),
    the local language used to be known as "joual" (not "joval", but could
    this "joval" be a typo or a misreading?), it being the way the locals
    pronounced the word "cheval" (horse).
    	For what it's worth...
    		Denis.
1057.4HERON::KAISERWed Jul 21 1993 06:3910
>	Re .0: Pete, is there any chance of French Canadian influence on this
>	song?

Could very well be, but of course the song is subject to severe linguistic
corruption, like all true folk songs.  (You ought to see what happens to the
original Gaelic in the refrain of "Shule Aroon"!)  But in every version of
this song that I've heard, it's clearly "J is for ..."; so what would it
mean to say that the horse is "never behind"?  Hmm.

___Pete
1057.5PAOIS::HILLAn immigrant in ParisWed Jul 21 1993 08:008
    Let's assume that 'joval' is a local word for a horse...
    
    Then consider what the horses are used for in forestry.  They're used
    to haul the felled trees.  To do this they must be in front of what
    they're hauling and if, on a downhill section, they get overtaken by
    the load they're in trouble, __big time__.
    
    Nick
1057.6NRSTA2::KALIKOWPartially sage, & rarely on timeWed Jul 21 1993 08:369
    Ah-HAAH!!?  P'raps I was closer in 1007.142 than I thought?  The
    French-Canadian influence, the assistance in dragging logs around... 
    Can this fella EVER miss an etymology, even when he's TRYING to
    fabricate one?  
    
    I stand before you amazed at my own 
    
    humility.  :-)
    
1057.7;-)PAOIS::HILLAn immigrant in ParisWed Jul 21 1993 10:225
    Re .5
    
    Oh, was I being serious???
    
    Nick
1057.8SMURF::BINDERDeus tuus tibi sed deus meus mihiWed Jul 21 1993 10:431
    Nick, serious or not, cheval surely fits the bill, I think!
1057.9Well Nick if you WEREN'T being serious in .5, ...NRSTA2::KALIKOWPartially sage, & rarely on timeWed Jul 21 1993 11:2910
    Then what the HECK were you doing in THIS string rather than in 1007.*???
    
    
    This is imho a very serious breach of JOYFLEX ethics, worthy of censure!
    
    
    A word to the wise, I say...!
    
    :-)
    
1057.10From "confused" of ParisPAOIS::HILLAn immigrant in ParisWed Jul 21 1993 11:5417
    The French-Canadian language suggestion sounded perfectly plausible.
    
    I followed the consequent train of thought.
    
    Someone then cried "Spoof", loudly.
    
    I cried "Spoof???" softly.
    
    And now find myself a victim of the thought police, big brother and the
    JOYOFLEX FBI.
    
    
    			Mea culpa, in extremis
    
    But I'm not sure what for now.
    
    Nick
1057.11:-)NRSTA2::KALIKOWPartially sage, & rarely on timeWed Jul 21 1993 12:176
    Waal podnuh, you're such a great citizen of JoyOfLex-Land, no previous
    infractions and all, consider this just a Warning...  Go Thou and
    continue having fun, ... as you were...
    
    :-)