A blogsite offering entertaining daily oddities since January 2020. There are now over fifteen hundred posts in these four years. Images -- photographic, computer-simulated and poetic --, are drawn from daily life, as well as from poems and wordplay grouped by topic on our parent blog "Edifying Nonsense". The poetry displayed is all original, although portions of it evolved through rigorous editing on a collaborative website.
January 21, 2021
JAN 21, classic palindrome: 'drawn onward'
Authors' Note:
patsy: slang for 'sucker' or 'gullible person'
Dem: American short-form for 'Democrats', referring either generally to adherents of the political party, or to elected officials
Don: short-form for 'Donald'; a respectful term of address for a Spanish or Italian nobleman; a leader of the Italian Cosa Nostra
D.C.: District of Columbia, often used in casual references to the American capital city, Washington
This poem was written just after the publically broadcast hearings of the Intelligence Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives in the first impeachment of Donald Trump in November, 2019.
Are we not drawn onward to new era? also represents a classic palindrome.
You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Reversing Verse: Limericks About Classic Palindromes' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.
January 20, 2021
JAN 20 (2021), singable satire: Tom Lehrer sings "REDUPLICATIONS L to Z"
PARODY SONG-LYRICS
ORIGINAL SONG: "The Elements", Tom Lehrer, 1959.
PARODY COMPOSED: Dr. G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio, 2015. This song is the eighth of nine in the series on Word Pairs. You can find the links to the lyrics of the previous songs at the bottom of the post.
For a discussion of reduplications on an earlier post on this blogsite, click here. The current post also honours our previous venture of Feb 15, 2017 entitled 'Abracadabra' to 'Zoom-zoom': possibly the world's largest compendium of reduplications'.
UKULELE and GUITAR-FRIENDLY LINK: Our whole series of songs can be found in a friendly format for ukulele (and guitar)-players on our sister blog "SILLY SONGS and SATIRE". Click HERE to proceed to this site.
Many of these words and phrases have fascinating stories of their origin and subsequent use; the hotlinks highlight those with instructive or amusing information available on the web.
There’s lazy Daisy, loosey-goosey, Ling Ling, and lickety-split
And lovey-dovey, legal eagle, mellow yellow, and nitwit
And muck-a-muck, and Mau Mau, mumbo-jumbo, Bony Moronie
And Mai Tai, mole hole, nitty-gritty, and phony-balo-oney.
There’s namby-pamby, no-no, ooey-gooey, okey-doke, ping pong
And pom-pom, palsy-walsy, pasty-faced, slap-happy, singalong
And pow-wow, pitter-patter, pooper-scooper, plain Jane, and pell-mell
And poo-poo (scat), pooh-pooh (reject), and pupu (snack); how can you tell?
And pow-wow, pitter-patter, pooper-scooper, plain Jane, and pell-mell
And poo-poo (scat), pooh-pooh (reject), and pupu (snack); how can you tell?
There's quick fix, quack-quack, razzle-dazzle, rail trail, ragtag, ring-aling
A mini-lesson found on the Internet |
And ready Freddy, rollick-frolic, “fuddle-duddle” (P. Trudeau)
And roly-poly, rinky-dink and super-duper, or so-so.
There's shock jock, sure cure, snip-snap, sci-fi, smartcart, shipshape, and stun gun,
And silly billy, speed read, shilly-shally, squish-squash, stumblebum
And shady lady, seesaw, space race, Star Wars, snail mail, PigglyWig'
And tutti-frutti, tittle-tattle, tiki, tip-top, thing'majig.
There's teeter-totter, tootsie-wootsie, teentsie-weentsie, and tee-tee
There's teeter-totter, tootsie-wootsie, teentsie-weentsie, and tee-tee
And tom-toms drumming, tartar, tum-tum, tattle-tale, uh-huh, TV
And tubby-wubby, willy-nilly, wishy-washy, woman’s womb
And tubby-wubby, willy-nilly, wishy-washy, woman’s womb
And walkie-talkie, wingding, yo-yo, yoo-hoo! zig-zag and zoom-zoom.
Ta-Dah !!!January 19, 2021
JAN 19, commercial product: web-purchased firearms (Elmer Fudd)
Currently (2017), weapons can be legally web-purchased by residents of the US, without prior background checks of the purchasers.
Our range of domestic and commercial products is somewhat limited, but you might want to review our unusual prospective gifts on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.
January 18, 2021
JAN 18, anagram swarm: 'ELECTION FRAUD' contest: honorable mention
Continuing from the posts of January 16 and January 18 ...
As you know, in the National Contest the Best Anagram was
FAILED RECOUNT
and the Runner-up was... OUTLINED FARCE
Here are some other national entries worthy of attention...
LO, INCUR DEFEAT
OR FEED LUNATIC
NOTICED EARFUL
LIAR OUTFENCED
REINFECT ALOUD
FUEL RIOT-DANCE
UNALTERED FOCI
ELUDE FRACTION
LEFTIE CANDOUR
ULCERATED INFO
ROTUND LIE-FACE
DUE LATIN FORCE
RUINED FACT: Olé !
LUCIFER ATONED
UNDO RELIEF ACT
I.O.U. FACT-LENDER
FIE ON A RED CULT!
URAL DEFECTION UNCLAD RIOT-FEE
U.F.O. CREDENTIAL
CURT FOE DENIAL
ONCE-FED RITUAL
FEAR NOT IL DUCE
TO CRUDE FINALE
At the state level, there are quite a few additional submissions worthy of honorable mention, attributed to the participating state, as shown on the accompanying map.
January 17, 2021
JAN 17, culinary verse: Cretan salad
Find the collection of illustrated poems dealing with these issues on the post 'Culinary Verse' on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE!
January 16, 2021
JAN 16, anagram swarm: 'ELECTION FRAUD' anagram contest: runners-up
Continuing from the post of January 16 ...
The national runner-up for best anagram is...
OUTLINED FARCE
Now to the runners-up for each participating state...
Read carefully. These concoctions are all different from the state 'Winners', which were posted 2 days ago!
And, have a safe week -- two-day countdown to Freedom-from-Trump Day.
January 15, 2021
JAN 15, classic palindrome: no 'D'; no 'L -- London
#120749 approved May 2023
You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Reversing Verse: Limericks About Classic Palindromes' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.
January 14, 2021
JAN 14, doctors and their practices: the endocrinologist
You can view these informative verses in a wider context by proceeding to the collection 'DOCTORS and their PRACTICES' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!
January 13, 2021
January 12, 2021
JAN 12, anagram swarm: 'ELECTION FRAUD' contest winners
Over the last week we have had an anagram contest at the national (U.S.) level. We are sorry if you missed the opportunity to participate.
The challenge was to come up with the best anagram (letter-scramble) of
E-L-E-C-T-I-O-N F-R-A-U-D
Out of an abundance of caution, we avoided announcing the contest initially, and have not required contest participants to agree to publishing their phone numbers, email addresses or charge-card PINs.
But we are now pleased to announce that the winning entry nationally was ...
FAILED RECOUNT
Consideration was also given by the judges to the best entry for each participating state; the winning entries are shown on the accompanying map.
Sincere thanks to all who participated.
January 11, 2021
JAN 11, classic palindromes: critique of palindromes
You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Reversing Verse: Limericks About Classic Palindromes' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.
January 10, 2021
JAN 10, a brief singable saga: Italian treats
PARODY-SONGLINK: These verses were originally conceived as poetic lyrics. However, they can, like almost all limericks, be easily sung using certain well-known tunes; in this case, the classic "Limerick Song?".
Click HERE to access ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany the song ("Italian Treats") on your favorite instrument. Otherwise, you can follow along with the poetic lyrics ...
Late-life learning: Portabella is an accepted variant of portobello, a mushroom named after the Italian town of Porto Bello. |
For the purpose of this blog, a 'brief saga' is defined as a poem, usually narrative, but occasionally expository, that tell its story in at least 15 lines. Most commonly, the format involves three stanzas in limerick form, constituting a single submission to the online humor site 'Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form'. On the OEDILF site, rigorous standards for content and format proceed in a collaborative editing process that may take several weeks to over a year.
Generally, OEDILF has not been enormously welcoming of multi-verse submissions, but Giorgio Coniglio has persisted, and the OEDILF number for each accepted multi-verse poem is shown here on the slide with its first verse.
To access the most recent previous 'brief saga', back up to 'The Dacha (Mar-a-lago)'.
January 9, 2021
JAN 9, American satire: "It Is what it is"
January 8, 2021
JAN 8, old world palindromes #7 and #8
You can view the entire collection of 'Old World Palindromes' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense"; start by clicking HERE.
January 7, 2021
JAN 7, anagram swarm: 'impeachment' (again)
Sixteen states have two-letter postal abbreviations that fit in with this scheme. Other locales may have decided on their stance on this issue, but their preferences are hidden on the 'dark web'.
January 6, 2021
JAN 6, classic palindrome: 'UFO tofu'
You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Reversing Verse: Limericks About Classic Palindromes' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.
January 5, 2021
JAN 5, amphibians: anurans - 'frog' vs 'toad'
Be sure to check out the whole collection of 'Amphibians' by proceeding to "Edifying Nonsense." CLICK HERE !
January 4, 2021
JAN 4, portraits of couples, Harris' hawks, brown pelicans
Enjoy illustrated verses about the brown pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, by clicking HERE and HERE.
You can view these photos from our portfolio of 'Couples' portraits in a wider context on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense" HERE.
January 3, 2021
JAN 3, diagnostic imaging: DEXA (BMD)
Authors' Note: DEXA, or Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry, is a simple standardized imaging test to assess bone mass in the context of osteoporosis. It actually measures bone mass in a peculiar form, i.e, mass per unit area (rather than volume) of tissue; differential attenuation (blocking by tissue) for the 2 photons of different energies is assessed for each spatial element in a planar field. The technique is however, excellent for serial tests in the same patient, and is now used so widely that its results are regarded as synonymous with Bone Mineral Density (BMD).
January 2, 2021
JAN 2, waterfowl: great egrets, more pics
Great Egret: Shem Creek, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina |
POEMS: Poetry appearing on this site was written (unless otherwise indicated) by Giorgio Coniglio, and for the most part contributed to the on-line humour dictionary site OEDILF Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form). OEDILF has worked its way alphabetically from Aa- to Gr-, with the goal of accumulating a verse defining every meaning of every word in the English language. This co-operative project has in its 15 years of existence accumulated over 107,000 carefully edited limericks, with completion date estimated to be around the year 2065. In the past three years, Giorgio has contributed over 300 poems to the project; the site's accession number for the verses is indicated at the bottom of the relevant slides in our presentations.
PHOTOGRAPHY: The majority of photographic illustrations were obtained by Giorgio Coniglio, using an i-phone 7 camera. These illustrations were collected independently of the verses, and formulated using Powerpoint software. Subjects for the wildlife photographs were not reimbursed for appearing in these illustrations, and the editor admits that their consent was not always obtained; an effort was made not to disturb their environment. Other artwork by the author was performed using Powerpoint. Where indicated, friends provided some bird photographs. When required for purposes of illustration, photos, primarily open-use, were drawn from the internet, and are designated by pale blue title plaques.
LOCALES: Unless otherwise displayed, photographs relating to flora and fauna, and to artwork in the southern United States, were shot in and around Charleston, South Carolina. We will endeavor to note other sites, which may include Toronto, San Francisco, Florida, Washington, DC, and Paris.
January 1, 2021
JAN 1, wordplay maps: new world palindromes(#43,#44)
You can view the entire collection of these 50 wordplay maps, by accessing the collection 'Tourists Palindromic Guides: The Americas'. Start by clicking HERE!
December 31, 2020
DEC 31, a brief saga: Hogmanay (Auld Lang's Sine)
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