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trevor: Strange, yes; but one could hardly be judgmental on this side of the Atlantic. The American humorist Dave Barry once defined a Baby Boomer as anyone who being prompted with "Shirley Shirley Bo Birley" will involuntarily respond: "Banana Fanna Fo Firley."

As Oscar Wilde remarked "The British and Americans have everyhthing in common except their languge"

He also said that Niagara Falls must be the second-biggest disappointment in American marriage, and alienated himself in the Midwest by referring to the farmers as peasants.

What was the first, Aristophanes?

The first? Of the answers I mentioned, do you mean? MILO, I think.

No, Aristophanes the first big disappointment in marriage

Yeah, I just realized what you meant (brain freeze). Gosh, I can't imagine what Wilde meant. You do know it's a honeymoon haven, don't you? You do see some rather dazed expressions on the Maid of the Mist.

"The Niagara Falls is simply a vast amount of water going the wrong way over some unecessary rocks;the sight of the water fall must be one of the earliest and keenest disappointments in American married life." Oscar Wilde.

How did the subject of the Niagara Falls arise in Wilde's output, Terry?

AJT,

Wilde simply visited America as a tourist. travel broadens the mind and all that. This was just a throwaway comment. Niagara falls were (are?) a big honeymoon spot and this remark is one of many Wilde made slagging off marriage. He is also saying that the Falls are a great disappointment and that is true.
Like Dr Johnson said about the Giant's Causeway;"worth seeing but not worth making a special trip to do so. I've seen the falls and the simple fact is that too much water is exracted for hydo-electricity plants. What should be an awesome spectacle isn't.