"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:53:36 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, "Ed
Huntress" quickly quoth:


"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
. ..

OK, OK. They could look so much like rattlers that we called 'em that.
For a long time I thought there were two different snakes, and I never
saw a live one for long. They were deadly and we knew it, making
tracks upon the first sighting, frog gigs in hand. We were smart
enough not to try to catch or kill one at 10 age. (us, not them)

Don't feel bad. When I was in sixth grade, living in the sticks in
Maryland,
I caught a little "corn snake" I found under a rotted log and brought him
to

"Took" it to class.

Jesus Christ, is this a metalworking hobby forum, or the freaking American
Heritage Book of English Usage? Did everybody get a new grammar book for
Christmas?

Besides, there's nothing at all wrong with "brought," past tense of "bring,"
which works perfectly well in that sentence. It's true that I don't know if
it was a "him," but we'll assume the epicene use of "him," which is
perfectly legitimate in English, so quit yer gripin'. d8-)



science class in a pickle jar. My science teacher saw him, turned white
(he
was already white; he turned whiter) and removed the snake and the jar
quickly from the classroom. 'Turned out it was a copperhead. d8-0

Oops. You got lucky, son.

Luckier than one of my buddies in the Boy Scout troop there in Hagerstown,
who sat on a snake on our five-mile hike, and nobody got a look at it after
it bit him on the butt, but before it disappeared, to see if it was a
copperhead. The area happened to be loaded with them.

No jokes about who was going to suck the poison out. Our scoutmaster,
fortunately, was a medical doctor. It apparently wasn't a copperhead, or
else he got a dry bite, which the experts say is quite common with
copperheads.

--
Ed Huntress