Our Andy's Gone With Cattle Now

Taken from here

I was thinking of words that rhyme with sandy and was reminded of Henry Lawson's poem "Andy's Gone With Cattle" that I first encountered when I was in high school. I don't know what a non-native speaker, or even an American, would make of some of this verse. Apart from the place names, there's terms like squatter and Blucher that would be rather challenging, although one might suspect that Blucher is a dog since it "howls all night". According to Wikipedia, the poem was first published in The Australian Town & Country Journal on 13 October 1888.

Anyway, the poem was brought to mind because the name Andy rhymes with sandy. What are some other words that rhyme? RhymeZone provides 79 examples of words and phrases that rhyme with Andy. These are:

Words of two syllables:

andee, andie, bandi, bandie, bandy, blandy, brandee, brandi, brandie, brandy, candi, candie, candy, chandi, dandi, dandie, dandy, gandee, gandi, gandy, grandee, grandi, grandy, handi, handy, hand he, kandi, kandy, landi, landy, land he, lan di, mandi, mandie, mandy, pandi, pandy, plan d, randi, randy, sandee, sandhi, sandi, sandie, sandy, shandi, shandy, standee, tandy, vandy, zandi, zandy

Words of three syllables:

brigandi, burgandy, discandy, fernande, fortran d, hard candy, islandy, jimdandy, leylandii, mint candy, mutande, rock candy, unhandy, verdandi, verthandi, viande

Words of four syllables:

alibrandi, barley candy, chocolate candy, come in handy, cotton candy, operandi, sugar candy, vallegrande

Words of five syllables:

peppermint candy

Words of six syllables:

modus-operandi, modus operandi

I've marked in bold the words that would be familiar to most native speakers (I've not bothered marking all the terms relating to the different types of candies, although I should mention here that a candyman once referred to a person who sold illicit drugs - the term is a little dated now). I had to look up some of the other terms and many are not really English words at all or they are archaic. Some that are in use either as given names or words include:

Figure 1: Andie MacDowell, aged 25

• Andie seems to be used as the female equivalent of "Andy" e.g. the actress Andie MacDowell (see Figure 1).
• Brandi is a fairly popular female given name (1 in 1818 females; popularity rank in the U.S. is 320) e.g. the singer Brandi Carlile
• Mandy is a somewhat popular female given name (1 in 3448 females; popularity rank in the U.S. is 475) e.g. the model Mandy Rice-Davies (associated with the Profumo scandal in 1960's British politics)
• standee is a lifesize cardboard cutout (usually of a celebrity) e.g. he had his picture taken with a standee of the president"; also someone who stands in a place where one might otherwise sit (as a spectator who uses standing room in a theatre or a passenger on a crowded bus or train) e.g. the allowed number of standees is posted".
• jimdandy is something excellent of its kind e.g. the bike was a jimdandy or he's a jimdandy of a soldier" (the term is maybe a little old-fashioned nowadays)

One phrase that's left out is fine and dandy explained as:

All right, excellent, as in What you're proposing is fine and dandy with the rest of us. This redundant colloquialism (fine and dandy both mean “excellent”) today is more often used sarcastically in the sense of “not all right” or “bad,” as in You don't want to play bridge? Fine and dandy, you've left me without a partner. Source

This post, like others, if part of my effort to make the learning of the English language more interesting via rhymes, alliteration and word games. Before leaving however, I'll return to the beginning of this post and make further mention of blucher, defined as a strong, leather half boot (see Figure 2).

Figure 2

The use of the term to describe a typeof shoe is perhaps due to the tough old Prussian general of the same name who fought against Napoleon. Wikipedia has an entry about him. Figure 3 shows a photo of him sporting his Star of the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross: Blücher and Hindenburg are the only German military officers to have been awarded this honour).

Figure 3

The term squatter in the context of the Lawson's poem can only be understood in terms of Australian history. Here is a link to the Wikipedia article about the subject but the key point is that:

... the term ‘squatter’ came to refer to a person of high social prestige who grazes livestock on a large scale (whether the station was held by leasehold or freehold title).  In Australia the term is still used to describe large landowners, especially in rural areas with a history of pastoral occupation.

So in the poem, the squatter is more or less the landlord.