The narrator prepares for the talent show with her teacher, Old Chong, who is deaf. She is supposed to play a song called "Pleading Child" by Schumann. Instead of memorizing the entire piece, she just plays a few bars and then daydreams. She never learns the whole piece. Mostly what she does to practice is curtsy in an elaborate way and smile to prepare for the talent show. Though she is very excited about the show, she plays a series of wrong notes because she has not practiced thoroughly and is not prepared for the talent show. After the show, she decides not to play piano anymore because she is not a prodigy, and she doesn't realize that practice is what makes someone good at playing the piano.
Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
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