About that title.


This isn't the first time that I've delved into my own personal web of associations for this particular metaphor. (Yet interestingly, I've only now discovered that others associate to it from a different source.) This one is from Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America. (Interestingly, on that Amazon page, one reviewer notes that:
Phrases from that disc regularly creep into my conversations
showing us that though all of us have our own webs of association, this particular item seems to show up in many of these.)

The text here has been culled from a 1991 Interview with Stan Freberg broadcast on NPR.
Narrator: As the seeds of turmoil flowered and grew, the hastily assembled American army craved a banner they could call their own. To a certain Philadelphia seamstress came General George Washington one day in the icy winter of 1777.

George Washington: Betsy? You in there, Betsy?
Betsy Ross: Who is it?
George Washington: It’s me, George.
Betsy: Oh, boy. Come on in!…Hey!
George: How’s that?
Betsy: You’re tracking snow all over my early American rug.
George: Oh, yeah. Sorry. Alright, let’s have a look at it
Betsy: Your flag?
George: No, no, my _jacket_!
Betsy: Yeah, but don't you want to see the flag?
George: The flag can wait! I've got a man outside from Esquire.
Betsy: All right...you want to slip it on?
George: Please.
Betsy: Okay, here we go...take a look in the mirror there.
George: Heh-heh...is that a darling blazer? Hm?
Betsy: Yeah...darling.
George: Is it me?
Betsy: It's you. Now how 'bout we check over the flag...
George: Wait a minute. You think the lace on the cuffs is too much? Huh?
Betsy: No, it's fine...
George: You really like it...
Betsy: I adore it. Now about the...
George: I wonder if I should have had the silk brocade instead of the lace...
Betsy: Lace, brocade...
George: Say, these antique military buttons worked out real nice...
Betsy: Well, I'm glad -
George:...or should I have taken the mother-of-pearl?
Betsy: We've been all _through_ this, George! You wouldn't want the mother-of-pearl. Once you had 'em on, you'd hate 'em.
George: Yeah, but on the other hand...
Betsy: (Exasperated) LOOK! I made you a spiffy little blazer there! You got the lace on the cuffs and the antique military buttons and the gold epilets, and the emblem on the pocket...
George: All right...
Betsy: Now WHY DON'T YOU LOOK AT THE FLAG, HUH???
George: All right, all right!
Betsy : Just a minute. Let me bite the thread off here.
George: Well, snap it up. Spread it out on your lap there and we’ll…heh, heh. You, uh, having a little fun at your country’s expense, here?
Betsy: How’s that?
George: Are you kidding with these colors? Red, white and blue?
Betsy: Well, those are the only remnants I had around the…
George: Wait a minute! Stars? I deliberately said polka-dots.
Betsy: Huh?
George: Stars with stripes? How does that work together, design-wise?
Betsy: Alright, you want to be the big man and put on the thimble, huh?
George: No, it’s just…
Betsy: Then how’s about you let me run the flag department and you run the army like a nice father of our country, okay?
George: I know, but-

("Everybody Wants To Be An Art Director")
1989 extended version

George:
Look at the colors you chose
The best you could do I suppose
A peppermint stripe with royal blue
The same as the British colors too
Now how will we tell whose side is who?
Look at the colors you chose
Why couldn't it have been puce
Lavender over chartreuse
Or possibly some exotic shade
A delicate orange, mauve, or jade
Instead of the choice that has been made
Why couldn't it have been possibly cinnamon?
Betsy:
Everybody wants to be an art director
Everybody wants to call the shots
George:
Yeah, well...
Betsy:
Everybody wants to be a flag dissector
Changing all my stars to polka dots
Everybody thinks that they're the final word
On what is strictly out and what is in
Howdja like a banner made of pea-green spots
On simulated leopard skin?
Or possibly a flag that features fleur-de-lis
On ochre corrugated tin!

George: I’d like it. How soon can you make one up?
Betsy: Come on, there’s your flag. Take it or leave it.
George: Alright. Say, what’s this little ticket here that just fell out, “Inspected by Number 28?”
Betsy: That’s me.
George: Oh, yeah.
Betsy: You want it on a hanger?
George:
No, I’ll just run it up the flagpole, see if anybody salutes.
Betsy: Okay.
George: I guess it’s better than “Don’t Tread on Me.”
Betsy: Certainly. Besides, a hundred years from now, what the heck difference will it make?
George: I guess you’re right. (goes out the door) Come on, men!
(Music out)



Go to: What's so bad about advertising?, or
Go to: There are legitimate reasons, or
Go to: Still running it up the flagpole