The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #1739 Message #3310393
Posted By: GUEST,Marianne
18-Feb-12 - 12:12 AM
Thread Name: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
Subject: RE: 'Aha' She Cried and Waved Her Wooden Leg...
I add another 'fiendish' variant, used many times by my mother (born in the US in 1917--both parents born in Germany). My father (also born in 1917, also born of German immigrant parents) served in the US Navy during WWII. Both my parents grew up in German-speaking communities in the Chicago area.
'"Oho!" she cried in fiendish glee and wildly waved her wooden leg.'
Could this be a naval variant, with a similar origin to that of the GUEST's 1/8/12 posting, that caught my mother's fancy? The scansion certainly supports an origin from a popular dance-hall song or poem...