ROSES ARE RED

VIOLETS ARE BLUE

SUGAR IS SWEET

AND SO ARE YOU

Rebuttal

The statement that “roses are red” implies that all members of the botanical family Rosaceae can be no other color. This is clearly a fallacious and erroneous assumption in view of the fact that the genus Rosa, containing more than one hundred (100) species, is found in a multitude of tinctures including, but not limited to, ocher, magenta, heliotrope, vermillion, and sunset violet. This observation can be supported, if need be, by the expert testimony of horticulturalists and elderly female persons.

Similarly, the generalization that all flowers of the genus Viola are blue can be refuted in view of the fact that the existence of other hues for the 400 known species can be documented by witnesses of reputable expertise in the field of violetology (i.e. the yellow pansy violet or pedunculata that flourish in the Great Plains area).

Although it has been established beyond a reasonable doubt that the organic compound C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁, in most cases, will leave a saccharine taste on one’s palate, we nevertheless cannot presume the validity of the concluding statement. Construed in a literal sense, wee must infer that such assertion, “and so are you“, is intended to to mean that a person tastes sweet, when in point of actual fact, there is no evidential substantiation of the gustatory evaluation of the human species.

Credit: The Legal Guide to Mother Goose, translated by Don Sandburg, published by Price/Stern/Sloan, Los Angeles, 1979.