When the circus rolled into town, you’d hear the music.
Under the big top, you’d hear it; those melodies featuring brass horns, drums, woodwind instruments and the distinctive sounds of the calliope. The circus, and the sounds of the circus, were special.
Now, you hear people using ‘circus’ differently, when someone says: “What a circus!”
These days, maybe circus melodies come to you when your news feed is full of politics. And tweets? When the nation’s POTUS is lashing out and tweeting nicknames he gives certain people. Nicknames like mini, crazy, sleepy, goofy, Pocahontas, Alfred E. Neuman, and so on.
During all those presidential primary debates on TV, could you imagine hearing the calliope, horns, drums and the rest of the band as various questions were being lobbed at candidates?
Could you hear the band playing when a radio talk show host, just recently, equated the coronavirus to a common cold?
Stay tuned! You can bet there’ll be more.
What a circus!
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.