15 June 2010

A Crappy Little Gab called Hordon

Adrian Plass's fictional self was once unwittingly roped in to present a children's talk at a local church.  While he was a proficient speaker in front of adult crowds, the thought of presenting a children's talk terrified him (as well it should) and he spent weeks regretting the horrible situation he found himself in.

After miserably failing to summon the courage to politely pull out of his speaking engagement, he fronted up on the awful day and with sweaty palms and a terrified, squeaky voice, began his children's talk.

He began, as he said, with a horrible unintentional spoonerism.

"There was once a crappy little gab called Hordon..."

The ensuing confusion was reminiscent of the similar confusion I create when I commit a similar unintentional spoonerism, which has been happening with depressing regularity.

This Sunday, I was attempting to lead Kids Worship accompanied by an extremely cool song that was played, through no influence of my own, on a small plastic CD player that emitted a weak, tinny, trebley sound.  I needed all my charisma to carry my enthusiasm to the minds of the small children who were bravely trying to copy the actions and sing the unfamiliar words.

The song was "I've Got The Joy" by Go Fish.  (Did I mention I love Go Fish? And also that this is not an advertisement, that they either haven't heard of me or are now putting a restraining order in place against the weird Australian lady who says she "loves" them?) If you want to refresh your memory regarding how awesomely cool this song is, listen to a bit of it here. Then buy their album, if for no other reason than to placate Go Fish and convince them not to place the restraining order.

The first verse says "I like to dance ... cos I've got the joy."  The second verse says "I like to sing ... cos I've got the joy."  The third says "I like to shout ... cos I've got the joy," and the fourth says "I like to clap ... cos I've got the joy."

The fifth verse says, "I like to" -pause- "... cos I've got the joy," presumably to let you fill in your own action.

And the sixth verse says, "I like to ..." and then it all gets weird.  The lead singer sings "dance-clap" while the BGVs sing "sing-and-shout!"

The words "clap" and "sing" are on top of each other, providing the Kids Worship Leader with a dilemma.  What to do?  What to sing?  How to do actions without getting tangled up?

I decided to attempt "Dance-clap-sing-shout!"

That was stupid.

Because what I actually shouted at the group of confused children was,
"DANCE-SING-CLOUT-SHAP!"

Like a crappy little gab called Hordon.

7 comments:

Emily Sue said...

Haha - just seeing the title of this post made me smile. :)

Hippomanic Jen said...

I wish I could have been there.

Tracy P. said...

At least you didn't slap or cling! Hilarious!

I typed a whole comment the other day about your Go Fish post, only to find out I wasn't signed in and lost the whole thing, BOO! Anyway, the group is local to us, and we also love them. Even still. They were performing at an outdoor Christian music festival that we so wanted to go to on Saturday, but the weather was cold and rainy. We have seen them in concert, though, and they are wonderful.

Ro said...

Hee hee! Coulda been worse though. There's an excruciatingly painful youtube clip out there somewhere of a youth pastor who, in the middle of a sermon, meant to say "pitching their tents" only it came out "pinching their tits" ... you can only imagine the mayhem that followed! :D

Joy said...

Very funny Givinya. I'm glad God understands us even when we say it backwards.
♥ Joy

Allegro ma non troppo said...

Oh thank goodness! I thought you were going to say you'd stuffed up the 4th verse to go:

"I've got the clap, cause I like the joy!"

See, it could always be worse.

Givinya De Elba said...

Yes, it could always be worse.

If I took you along with me.