Two days ago, a political portmanteau (about Herr Drumpf) committed by Susan Fischer on Facebook:
So when Donald goes off on a rant, is it a tantrump?
To which I replied, bowing to Sir Arthur Sullivan:
Loudly let the trumpet bray!
Tantantarump, tantantarump!
The allusion is to Gilbert & Suillivan’s Iolanthe (1882), Act 1 No. 6, Entrance and March of Peers:
Loudly let the trumpet bray,
Tantantara, tantantara!
Watch the number here, in a 2012 performance by the Hereford Gilbert & Sullivan Society (other videos are available), to appreciate the haughtiness of the peers and catch their later lines:
Bow, bow, ye lower middle classes!
Bow, bow, ye tradesmen, bow ye masses!
G&S saw it all, over 130 years ago: the loudly braying Trump-et, the attachment to vulgar extravagant display, and the open contempt for (those he sees as) his inferiors.
What we need is the shepherd Strephon, who’s a fairy down to the waist, but his legs are mortal. Ok, what about the middle zone?
(Strephon comes to us courtesy of the most recent Daily Jocks ad, which is offering a Mystery Trunk.)
We know that Strephon is the tree, Phyllis the flower — they’ve tell us this — but the question remains whether the tree is mostly into flowers… or other trees. After all, there’s a lot of tree-on-tree sex out there.
We do know that Herr Drumpf loves to play his trumpet for the ladies, while condoning appalling anti-fairy nastiness. So up with the simple shepherd boy Strephon (soon to be a Member of Parliament)! And down with Lords Tolloller and Mountararat!
