The chopped / shot reference

From Bethany “Bitty” Ramirez on Facebook on 5/8: I chopped the rhubarb But I did not chop the strawberry — (#1) Ramirez BR often writes (mouth-wateringly) about food and its preparation, but not lined out like this, and not with what looks like a reference to the song “I Shot the Sheriff” (in either of its two most famous recordings). Depending on your knowledge of popular music (which probably depends on your age), this is either an ostentatiously playful allusion — pretty much everybody of a certain age knows the song, so it leaps right out as the model for #1 — or an Easter egg quotation — a kind of hidden bonus for those younger listeners who happen to be familiar with the model. (More on OPAs and EEQs below.) The song (and its second line). “I Shot the Sheriff” was written by Jamaican reggae musician Bob Marley, and its original recording was by Bob Marley and the Wailers, on the album Burnin’, 1973. The first two lines, immediately repeated with small variations in the form of…