Hi kels69-ga,
Interesting question. :) The Arkansas Poop is a legendary piece of
American foklore which was called: Change the name of Arkansas? or
Change the Name of Arkansaw?!
The original 'speech' might have been authored orinally by Mark Twain,
as stated here:
Change the Sacred Name of Arkansas
http://snafu.freedom.org/pub/arkansaw-polite.html
"Rather than reprint here any of James R. Masterson's texts of "Change
the Name of Arkansaw?!" it seems more useful to print a form given
only in manuscript in Vance Randolph's 'Unprintable' Ozark collection,
Pissing in the Snow, and other Ozark folktales (Ms. 1954) No. 69, as
"Senator Johnson's Great Speech," and collected from a gentleman in
Little Rock, 1949, who 'had a manuscript copy of the speech, but
recited the whole thing from memory.' This manuscript copy was
apparently being committed to memory) with the final text given by
Masterson, p. 354-5, stating that this was sent him by Miss Nancy
Clemens of the family of Mark Twain. It also seems quite possible that
Twain may have been the author of the original - which is extremely
similar to the expurgated contest in brag that precedes the fight on
the raft in Twain's Life on the Mississippi in 1883."
[edit]
"Mr. Speaker: The man who would CHANGE THE NAME OF ARKANSAS is the
original iron-jawed, brass-mounted, copper-bellied corpse-maker from
the wilds of the Ozarks! Sired by a hurricane, dammed by an
earthquake, half-brother to the cholera, nearly related to small-pox
on his mother's side, he is the man they call Sudden Death and General
Desolation! Look at him! He takes nineteen alligators and a barrel of
whiskey for breakfast, when he is in robust health; and a bushel of
rattlesnakes and a dead body when he is ailing. He splits the
everlasting rocks with his glance, and quenches the thunder when he
speaks!
Change the name of Arkansas! Hell, no! stand back and give him room
according to his strength. Blood's his natural drink! and the wail of
the dying is music to his ears! Cast your eyes on the gentleman, and
lay low and hold your breath, for he's about to turn himself loose!
He's the bloodiest son of a wild-cat that lives..."
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http://comp.uark.edu/~sboss/hellno.htm
"A legendary piece of American folklore, recounted in the book
"Folklore of Romantic Arkansas" (Allsopp, 1931), relates the story of
a proposal to change the name of the state of Arkansas by legislative
enactment during the latter 1800?s. It is said that this question was
actually introduced at a session of the Legislature, and that a member
delivered a fiery speech on the subject to the assembly. "Change the
name of Arkansas? Hell, No!" he is supposed to have declared.
Apparently, however, investigations of state archives have failed to
find any official record of such a deliverance, though it is
frequently referred to at banquets and other convivial occasions where
it is usually recited in wickedly lurid terms. Botkin (1944) provides
two reprinted versions of the supposed famous oratory which are
combined below to let the reader know how we feel about Arkansas!
Gentlemen, you may tear down the honored pictures from the halls of
the United States Senate, desecrate the grave of George Washington,
haul down the Stars and Stripes, curse the Goddess of Liberty, and
knock down the tomb of U.S. Grant, but your crime would in no wise..."
==============================================================================
Change the Sacred Name of Arkansaw?! The (previously) unknown story
by Michael Simmons
http://snafu.freedom.org/pub/arkansaw-history.html
==============================================================================
Reference was made to The Arkansas Poop at Google Groups - you can
read the entire newsgroup article here:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&threadm=36696808.63CC%40zianet.com&rnum=6&prev=/groups%3Fq%3DThe%2BArkansas%2BPoop%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26selm%3D36696808.63CC%2540zianet.com%26rnum%3D6
"Never had to memorize the "Arkansas Poop" as it was called, but I
believe the first lines are more akin to this "Mr Speaker! Mr Speaker!
You walleyed son of a ...."
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More at alt.folklore.urban
http://www.urbanlegends.com/books/legman/arkansas_pronunciation.html
==============================================================================
You can purchase the book - Pissing in the Snow and Other Ozark
Folktales by Vance Randolph
http://www.press.uillinois.edu/s97/randolph.html
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0252013646/002-7570346-8551205?v=glance
==============================================================================
Google Search:
The Arkansas Poop
change the name of Arkansas
Best regards,
tlspiegel |
