Patrick, I lived on a farm until I was 16, but I had to google it! Never really thought about it......... but I guess when I did think of a mule, I only thought "male." :-)

http://cgi.sfu.ca/~gpeters/cgi-bin/p...stname=Frances

Here Patrick, this might ease the stress..

The talking mule was Francis. If you don't believe me, go to www.imdb.com (the extremely useful Internet Movie Database). They even have photos of the video boxes, which reporduce the old posters.

I'm so happy that the poor mule wasn't suffering from gender confusion.

KT, that's fine, but there is another site www.40smovies.us where you can actually order three different "Frances the Talking Mule" movies. I wonder how they spell it when you actually get them? There are also references on the Turner Classics site (which owns the films) that calls it Frances! Plus dozens of hits on Google that show various references to "Frances the Talking Mule".

But since I actually see a poster on your site that spells it Francis -- I'll give in and now go to bed!!!

cigalechanta: Thanks a lot for the "Frankie & Johnnie" lyrics. I haven't heard that song in years but always liked it a lot, especially when performed by ladies who sang in the style of the "red hot mamas".

I beg to differ a bit on a couple of definitions you gave. I expect both of them are correct in some instances but in the context of the lyrics of the song, Crib-house and Hook-shop both refer to the same thing - a place where ladies of ill repute practice their trade.

they are not my definitions, they came with the song. Happy to know someone who knows this song, though.
But I must add that when I was a jazz fan and knew many of the musicians, crib was the same as pad.

Jeez....I'm on the phone with my DH in Houston for ONLY two hours and look what all I missed about Frances/Francis, and of course, Karl. :)

Glad you were talking with your DH that long, now we can amuse you with our posts to keep your mind away from the awful, before events..:)

Just got my latest email update. Karl is "officially" Karl. Or would that be Karla?....maybe Carl?.....or Karla?.....? Oh, who the hell cares anymore :O :)

I just had another thought. I think we should deem ourselves the FMA. Fodorite's Meteorlogical Association.

After all, I think we are experienced enough by now to predict "the cone of uncertainty" all by ourselves. :)

Is someone on this thread implying that Sir Francis Drake was female? I don't think so!

My sympathies to y'all in the hurricane belt.

we all know a drake is male duck, don't we?

If Hurricane Javier doesn't dissolve into nothingness in the next 48 hrs as he travels over Baja, then he will very possibly end up in five days in.......PHOENIX!!!

Tandoori: that's an impossible scenerio. Before reaching Phoenix, Hurricane Havier or it is Jurricane Javier has to cross DESERT. The desert will, for sure, swallow up all the water in a hurricane.

Cigalechanta: quack! quack! (=You're so right!)