I learned something new tonight on Jeopardy. It only took me, er, multiple decades to realize what I’ve been singing since 1972.

The category was about replacing one vowel to give the correct two words in the answer. I don’t remember the precise clue but they were looking for “puddle” and “piddle” in the right answer. Host Ken Jennings quipped sometimes his dog does both and it’s the same term of art to euphemistically refer to a dog going to the bathroom.

Our beloved sixth-grade teacher, Mr. Devinoff, put on a world-class show for the school. We performed “1776” after seeing it on Broadway in its early run on stage. This class play was and ever shall be one of the highlights of my tender young life. Older life, too.

One of the first songs has Abigail and John Adams singing together about the frustrations of Congress and Philadelphia. John notes nothing ever gets done. (He should only be a fly on the wall today to kvetch and vent about the job not being done now. He’d fit right into the foul, filthy, fuming scene of our current state of the union.)

John Adams tells his beloved Abigail all Congress does is “piddle, twiddle, and resolve.”

Not one damn thing’s ever solved!

I have known these words like I know my name and blood type.

But it never occurred to me to think about what words I was singing.

“Piddle”?! Piddle?! Piiiiiiiiidle???!

Was John being polite? Was he saying Congress was good for… pppiiiiii…. urinating on the floor?!

Metaphorically, I’m sure. Or… perhaps not. Maybe that’s the stench Adams sings about. Where were the out houses at Independence Hall? I have visited that site a few times and it’s bothering me the tour guide never pointed out the site of -those- historic rooms. I love the public room with the desks but also show me the good, private stuff while I’m there.

Was it fashionable then to say one needed to piddle?

Can’t you see how piddle progressed to… rhymes with p… bliss? Was John Adams in need of a good… bliss? 😳

Tonight’s brainstorm brought to you by John Adams, the game show Jeopardy, Weird Al Yankovich, and my insatiable urge to know everything there is to know about everything.

You never know what you’re going to need to know.

One answer down. 78,956 answers more to go.

Share knowledge as much as possible. Don’t hold it in. 🥸

Or, as Ben Franklin would likely say: “Go fly a kite, kid!”