"A fool such as I"

Picture of Elvis from Biography.com

I frequently have to explain to my writing students how to use "such as" correctly. Again and again I find myself talking about pools full of fish, and explaining that when you use such as, you are only taking out a few of these and leaving the rest in the pool. The pool represents the category, and the fish are examples -- an INCOMPLETE LIST.

We cannot talk about the sexes such as men and women, as those are the only two. Nor can I refer to my nephews such as Lee, Len and Irem, because those are all the nephews I have.

I've begun to feel like a broken record, going over my standard fish story again and again. [Meanwhile, the metaphor of the broken record is outdated -- we now listen to Ipods and CDs and suchlike. Nobody -- except maybe Stewart Maclean's protagonist Dave, of the Vinyl Cafe, has records any more.]

I've been looking for a new way to remind my students how to use "such as" correctly. Today I remembered Elvis Presley's song. Elvis sang these romantic lyrics back in 1961, to the accompaniment of screaming teenage fans.

"I'm a fool but I'll love you, dear, until the day I die;
Now and then, there's a fool such as I."

You can hear the whole song here on YouTube.

At the risk of sounding unromantic, let me paraphrase the meaning of the second line quoted above.  Only occasionally is there a fool like the singer. He is one among many who are not fools.