Impromptus today, as usual, is a grab-bag — grab what you like. I begin with politicians, especially of the slippery kind. The shape-shifting kind. You remember what Herbert Hoover called FDR? “A chameleon on plaid.” There are many chameleons among us, in politics, in media, and in many another sphere.

Putting my column to bed, I thought of a song. I’d like to mention it here. Do you know “The Dodger,” one of the “old American songs” arranged, indelibly, by Aaron Copland?

Yes the candidate’s a dodger,
Yes a well-known dodger.
Yes the candidate’s a dodger,
Yes and I’m a dodger too.
He’ll meet you and treat you,
And ask you for your vote.
But look out boys,
He’s a-dodgin’ for your note.
Yes we’re all dodgin’
A-dodgin’, dodgin’, dodgin’.
Yes we’re all dodgin’
Out away through the world.

Many years ago, I heard Samuel Ramey, the great bass from Colby, Kan., sing this song in recital at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Seated in the first row was Rudy Giuliani. When Ramey was finished with the song, he said, “Sorry, Mayor.” Giuliani made a gesture that said, “Hey, no problem.”

If you’d like to hear “The Dodger” — sung by Ramey, accompanied by Warren Jones — go here, at about 3:05.

In a column last week, I said,

Let’s talk pronunciation. When I was growing up in Michigan, a lot of people said “vanella,” instead of “vanilla”: “I’ll have a vanella shake.” Now, the coach of the New England Patriots is Bill Belichick. But I hear many, many Americans say “Belicheck.”

I further said,

You know the word “quarter”? I think I said “corter” until I was about 20 — not “kworter.”

Writes a reader from Michigan (now in Connecticut),

“Vanella”? Yes, and I still pronounce it that way. At Dexter M. Ferry School in Grosse Pointe we had a morning “melk” break in kindergarten. And of course there was a favorite, “Melky” the Clown. [For an article about Milky the Clown, a Detroit TV character, go here.] I used to wonder if Melky Cabrera of the Yanks was actually “Milky” Cabrera.

Marvelous.

Another reader writes,

Jay,
Impromptus reminded me of when I first got to school in Boston. I was walking down Beacon Street and someone stopped me to ask for change. He said, “Do you have fah kotters for a dollah?”
It took me a sec, and I said, “Do you mean corters?”

Marvelous.

Donald Mace Williams is a poet, novelist, and journalist. He is also a friend of mine and a sterling gentleman. He has written a couplet, titled “If the Plague Continues.”

When Omicron has filled its quota,
May its successor be Iota.

Terrific.

Thank you to one and all. Again, today’s Impromptus is here.