What does the “knee-jerk” part of the phrase “knee-jerk liberal refer to?  Or, in other words, what is a liberal like myself supposedly jerking her knees about?

It makes me imagine a form of folk dance with lots of bouncing involved.  And little bands of bells around the ankles to jingle while those knees are doing their thing.

But this is a derogatory term.  So what’s the story?

I know that these are just the names of shoes, but I was rather attracted to the rich sounds of the language on this sign when I walked past it this afternoon.  So many nice vowels.  Ooooloooo.  Uuugg.  Uurth.  Booooots.  I guess reading a lot of poetry trains you to think like this?  But I think I’ve always loved language.  Oooooloooo.  MerUuull.  Ooooloooo.  Uurth.  And a happy afternoon to you.