Date: Wed, 30 Mar 1994 18:05:00 EST From: "Dennis.Preston" <22709MGR[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MSU.BITNET> Subject: Popular Expressions 'Like a hen on a junebug' (which Don Lance comments on) is kin to a whole bunch of junebug and chicken expressions, all of which, apparently, go back to a set of proverbial expressions of West African origin (with similar expressions all of the Caribbean). My on favorite is 'to have no more chance than a junebug in a chicken coop.' The reporter (or Clinton) had obviously combined one of the many 'flies' expression ('to honey,' 'around a dead horse') with the chicken and junebug one. These mixed proverbialisms were done intentionally a few years back with the then popular sarcastic retorts: 'Does a wild bear shit in the woods,' 'Is the Pope Catholic,' yielding such incredible absurdities as 'Does a wild Pope shit inthe woods' and others which I have forgot. Dennis Preston 22709mgr[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]msu.bitnet