Parson Brown?

Last year this was bugging the heck out of me... as most trivial things do. So I ask Anthony - my son the chemist who is the smartest man in the world - well, second to his dad. "Ok... so who is Parson Brown and why are we pretending that he's our snowman? That's what the lyrics to Winter Wonderland say!"

He says "how am I supposed to know?" I say "because you want to be a chemistry and physics teacher and someone will eventually ask you during your career so you better get an answer" so he googles it and tells me. That put that to rest. So here I am minding my business in my office and on the radio they start singing; In the meadow we can build a snowman Then pretend that he is Parson Brown.... I completely forget what Anth told me last year so I google it myself...

"Parson Brown" is the term used to talk about a typical angelican priest of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. "Parson Brown" is not an actual person (though he might have been at some time), but a figure of speech, like "John Doe" is an unidentified male and "Charley" is a watchman. "Parson" by itself means minister.

The classic line from Winter Wonderland: "In the meadow we can build a snowman Then pretend that he is Parson Brown He'll say 'Are you married ?', We'll say 'No man, For you can do the job when you're in town.'" Sure, it sounds like some kind of sexual reference, but its not. It's just a priest asking a couple if they are married. They reply that they are not and that they will wait for him to "do the job" of marrying them when he comes to their town.

Got it.... not to forget it anytime soon either.