# He's a poet and don't know it cause his feet are longfellows. Huh? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 3, 2005, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478 "2005-04-03T02:29:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478/1 "2005-04-03T02:29:40Z")
“Your a poet and don’t know it cause your feet are longfellows.” or whatever variation of that I have heard. I don’t get it. Someone help. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478/2 "2005-04-03T02:45:00Z")
You’re a poet and don’t know it cause your feet show it. They’re longfellows. A play on words, especially to [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](http://eclecticesoterica.com/longfellow.html). ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478/3 "2005-04-03T02:46:02Z")
[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/longfellow) ---
**Author:** ![Ezstrete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ea924/32.png) [@Ezstrete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ezstrete)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478/4 "2005-04-03T03:32:46Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/longfellow) Slowly read this version from the late 20’s. You’re a poet and you don’t know it but your feet show it They’re long fellows. The last line is play on words called a PUN------a very weak one but a pun nevertheless. EZ ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478/5 "2005-04-03T04:21:46Z")
And yet another English teacher is turning over in her grave. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478/6 "2005-04-03T06:24:23Z")
It’s a very old, very fatigued joke that sometimes gets dusted off when somebody makes an unintentional rhyme. It is funny the first time, to someone who hasn’t heard it. Nearly everybody **has** heard it, so it isn’t funny very often. It’s a threadbare joke, like “Why did the chicken…” or “Where was Moses, when…” The traditional glow of it brings a campfire-like sense of, ah, lore. Nah, forget it. It’s a nine-year-old’s joke, like “rubber balls and liquor.” ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478/7 "2005-04-03T06:37:00Z")
Er… where _was_ Moses when? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478/8 "2005-04-03T06:44:55Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Er… where _was_ Moses when? …the lights went out? [spoiler]In the dark! (Now where was _Noah_ when the lights went out?)[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478/9 "2005-04-03T06:47:09Z")
I still don’t get it. Will someone explain the joke to the poor idiot? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478/10 "2005-04-03T07:46:10Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > I still don’t get it. Will someone explain the joke to the poor idiot? **He’s a poet and doesn’t know it** – said when someone (presumably inadvertently) makes a comment that rhymes. This can be enough in itself, as one rhyme has been “answered” by another. Nevertheless, it’s hard to resist the third line in the _OH-IT_ rhyme scheme: **But his feet show it** – of course now we have to wrap it up. Why/how do his feet show it?: **Because they’re long fellows** – we have departed from rhyming, which lends a surprise/punchline effet. We have also cleverly tied a description of his feet (long fellows) with a famous American poet (Longfellow) so as to show how one’s feet could indicate a bent towards poetic ability. Obviously this only works in the realm of lame jokes. It’s not so much funny as clever, taking a quick rhyme, expanding it, then unexpectedly throwing in a twist that actually reinforces the beginning concept. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478/11 "2005-04-03T07:55:27Z")
Ah, thank you **Gary T** 🙂 I totally missed the Longfellows=famous American poet part. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478/12 "2005-04-04T22:24:11Z")
> [@Biffy the Elephant Shrew](#): > > …the lights went out? > > [spoiler]In the dark! > > (Now where was _Noah_ when the lights went out?)[/spoiler] Was he In the ark? I’ve honestly never heard that one. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478/13 "2005-04-04T23:55:06Z")
If I remember right, Mark Twain had Huckleberry Finn tell the “Where was Moses…” joke to Jim. It was probably an old joke then. Jim didn’t laugh. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478/14 "2005-04-05T03:25:40Z")
> [@Ezstrete](#): > > Slowly read this version from the late 20’s. > > You’re a poet > > and you don’t know it > > but your feet show it > > They’re long fellows. > EZ And they stink like the Dickens. Sorry, I just couldn’t leave it out there unfinished. I tried to, I really did. I went back to GQ, but I had to click this thread again and finish the joke. I was able to quit alcohols, drugs and cigarettes, but I just couldn’t leave it hanging. I am so ashamed of myself. God, this was a bad joke in elementary school. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478/15 "2005-04-05T03:42:28Z")
> [@BMax](#): > > And they stink like the Dickens. Except…Dickens wasn’t a poet, he was a novelist. ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478/16 "2005-04-05T04:11:21Z")
But why even the feet part? Is “fellows” a term for “feet” that I’ve never heard in my life? Or is there a pun on “feet”, also meaning like the little bits meter is broken up into (iambs, trochees, etc.)? ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478/17 "2005-04-05T04:18:59Z")
No, **AwSnappity** , it’s not that complex, no hidden puns. Just a bit of unkillable doggerel that was old when our grandfathers heard it. ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478/18 "2005-04-05T23:09:25Z")
> [@scotandrsn](#): > > Except…Dickens wasn’t a poet, he was a novelist. Well, that’s why he stunk a poet. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478/19 "2005-04-06T14:45:00Z")
His feet are Longfellow’s, but he has Harriet Beecher’s toe. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-a-poet-and-dont-know-it-cause-his-feet-are-longfellows-huh/297478/20 "2005-04-06T15:33:29Z")
> [@AwSnappity](#): > > But why even the feet part? Is “fellows” a term for “feet” that I’ve never heard in my life? Well, in common parlance, we can see a person facetiously address part of his body. For example, a man might look down at his feet and say aloud, “How are you fellows doings?”, because it seemed like a funny thing to do at the time.