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Topic: Orange

The shift to the Gregorian calendar makes today, not July first, the traditional day of commemoration for the 1690 Battle of Boyne. According to the Old Style Calendar, the Battle of Boyne was fought eleven days earlier, on July first, 1690. It marked a watershed in Irish history: the forces of the deposed King James the seventh of England and Scotland stood on one side of the River Boyne; the forces of James' son-in-law, William the third, stood on the other. Won quickly and decisively by William of Orange, the victory was and is viewed as triumph of the Orange side.

More than three centuries later, feelings still run so high that we'll end talk about the conflict and instead turn our attention to the word orange. It is a truism that "nothing rhymes with orange," but is that truism true? According to our search of the Unabridged, yes. According to Arthur Guiterman, a humorous poet of the early 20th century, not necessarily. He wrote:

In Sparkill buried lies that man of mark
Who brought the obelisk to Central Park
Redoubtable Commander H.H. Gorringe
Whose name supplies the long-sought rhyme for orange.

What Guiterman did not include in his rhyme is this: the cemetery where Gorringe is buried is in the hamlet of Sparkill in the town of Orangetown.

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