Pressent, Pressents (for Present, Presents)

Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done
She gave her father forty-one.

Without doubt, the most humorous Christmas present I received this year was “Lizzie’s Leftovers,” a small tin adorned with this jump-rope rhyme and a portrait of the infamous Ms. Borden herself. Inside was a tasty selection of foil-wrapped chocolate body parts!

I remember well the 1975 made-for-television movie The Legend of Lizzie Borden, in which actress Elizabeth Montgomery played the title role. But until I searched for Lizzie’s portrait on Wikipedia, I had no idea America’s favorite witch might actually have been related to the alleged axe murderess–they were thought to be sixth cousins, once removed.

Pressent appears five times in English-language OhioLINK entries, while a search for Pressents yields one.

(Lizzie Borden, circa 1889, from Wikimedia Commons)

Deb Kulczak