The words come from language across the ocean;
The words came to us from across the ocean.

They’re from “sabot,” they’re from “sabot,” Frenchie,
Come from “boot,” on the boat brought over.

Even before William’s[1] voyage began,
Bilingualism had started to kick in,
Then the terms started to sail o’er the rolling sea—
“Sabotage/eur” entered our tongue later these centuries.[2]

[flash forward]

So—one involves a ship from the ocean,[3]
And the other’s ’bout a bomb that causes urban commotion.[4]

So I’d like to know how he got the notion
To make two with terms that came ’cross the ocean.

So, a “sabot” is what you are placing
On your foot; as verb, you add “e-r”:
“Saboter” is pronounced sa-BOAT-ay:
“strike, shake up.”

One’s about a factory firestorm
Started by some saboteurs that around the U.S. swarm.
The other is about a terrorist crew. . .
Building and bus ripped away, sheared—in London this ensues.

The two are separated by an “ocean”
Of six years, but both concerned with commotion.
In both of these films, there are some explosions;
One takes place here, and one across the ocean.


[1]A long-term change after the Norman Conquest was the change of language. The Normans spoke French, and French became the language of government and the nobility. It remained so until the 15thc. Henry II, Richard the Lion-Hearted, even Edward Longshanks, all spoke French. Language was a barrier and a divide between the Norman lords and their Saxon subjects.
[2]sabotage: 1865-70; saboteur: 1920-25
[3]“Saboteur” (1942), with Bob Cummings as a guy named Barry (Mark Halliday in “Dial ‘M’ for Murder”) as the wrongly accused man.
[4]“Sabotage” (1936), with Oscar Homolka (three roles in “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”) as the bomb-wielding terrorist, who is literally hoist with his own petard (speaking of French terms blowing into English); music by Jac