September 30, 2020

SEP 30, insects: yellow jackets



Authors' Note: A million Emergency Room (ER) visits per year in the United States are caused by concern over stings from insects of the order Hymenoptera; stings can result in significant local reactions and even anaphylaxis. Many people attribute these incidents, without differentiation, to 'bees'. In fact, the common honeybees and bumblebees are considerably less aggressive than yellow jackets, such as Vespula maculifrons; these pesty wasps make us miserable in the summer and early fall, particularly at fairs and other outdoor events, by their relentless search for sugar-containing foods. Vespine is the adjective relating to wasps.
       

You can review Giorgio's other verses about pesty and occasionally beneficial insects, as  collected in 'Buzzwords: Verses about Insects' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

September 29, 2020

SEP 29, French savoir-faire: French enologists








 You can review verses on this topic in a wider context on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Check the post 'Vers Francais: Savoir-Faire' by clicking HERE


September 28, 2020

SEP 28, pandemic poetry: D.Y.O.D.





Authors' Verse: 

BYOB: bring your own booze

DYODdyour own dishes, an analogous motto proposed for software-enhanced 'remote get-togethers' via internet

Zoom: software for interactive on-line meetings

Other verses by the author relating to the viral pneumonia pandemic of 2020 (COVID-19) include attributecalamaricetaceanconfinement, and dine in.




You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Pandemic Poetry' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense".


September 26, 2020

SEP 26, Toronto oases: Humber Bay







You can review the entire series of illustrated poems about  the good old days in Ontario by checking the post 'Ontario Nostalgia' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE




A reminder: Giorgio Coniglio can now be found on Facebook.

September 25, 2020

SEP 25, Toronto ravines: Park Drive Reservation





If you are interested in wending your way through an encyclopedic collection of four blogposts stuffed with photo-collages on Toronto ravines, click HERE.

 

September 24, 2020

SEP 24, trees: sago palms








You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Uprooted Verse: 'Poems about Trees' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". 


September 23, 2020

SEP 23, poets' corner: limerick addiction



Authors' Note: The mental disorder in which sufferers (including the author) feel endlessly compelled to write limericks might be dubbed limerrheahyperlimerosis, or more simply, limerick addiction
    Volunteer writers and editors toil away for OEDILF, the online humour dictionary, but the project is not likely to be finished until 2070. 








You can find lots of other verses on this blog under the listing "Poets' Corner".  Click HERE.





 

September 22, 2020

SEP 22, Toronto ravines: Riverdale Farm, photocollages #1-#2












 If you are interested in wending your way through an encyclopedic collection of four blogposts stuffed with photo-collages on Toronto ravines, click HERE.

September 21, 2020

SEP 21, Toronto ravines: Riverdale Farm (poem)







If you are interested in wending your way through an encyclopedic collection of four blogposts stuffed with photo-collages on Toronto ravines, click HERE.
 

September 20, 2020

SEP 20, singable satire: Tom Lehrer Sings "RHYMING BINOMIALS, A to L"

 PARODY SONG-LYRICS

  A rhyming binomial
ORIGINAL SONG: "The Elements", Tom Lehrer, 1959.  

PARODY COMPOSED: Dr. G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio,  2015. This song is the fourth 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. Also, our prior exploration of this theme resulted in a lexicon of rhyming binomials on this site as displayed here.

EXPLANATION: For discussion of binomials specifically and word-pairs in general, check out a recent post on this blog-site by clicking here

Most binomial pairs are not rhyming







The inherent music of language is an important element in the toolkit of parodists. When all of this began, I used Tom Lehrer’s format to sing a nonsense-song about irreversible binomials. The current offering highlights pairs in which the 2 elements rhyme, e.g. ‘make or break'. Specific cases may border on cliché, but delight us with their musical quality. Sneak a peek!

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 SATIREwith chord-charts and helpful performing suggestions. Click HERE to proceed to this site. 



There’s age and stage, bug in a rug, (out and) about, and ants in pants
And agony and ecstasy, and amble ramble, ain’ts and shan’ts
There’s bows and arrows, brake and take, more bounce to ounce, and box and cox
Bird is the word, feathered not furred, and claws and paws, cock of the walk.

There’s chips and dip, and chalk and talk, and cruising for a brui-uising
Candy is dandy, liquor’s quicker – it’s your pick and choo-oosing.
And crime and grime, and croon a tune, crumpled and rumpled, (blushing groom)
Cat in the Hat, Dancer and Prancer, dream and scheme, and doom and gloom.

Dennis the Menace, dives and drive-ins, fair and square, and eyes on prize
Delicious and nutritious, flotsam jetsam, also Five Alive.
There’s gym and swim, and gap and lap, and grip or slip, Amazing Grace
And shades of Hades!  hurry  scurry, huff and puff, and haste makes waste.

The hostess with the mostest, hire and fire, and high and dry, haircare
Highway and byway, health- and wealthy, height and weight, and here and there.
By hook or crook, and grope and hope, and hulk and skulk, and hitch and snatch
Hasten and chasten, hustle bustle, hither thither, itch and scratch.

There’s kneel and squeal, and kitty litter, luck and pluck, and keen and mean
Loonie and toonie, life of strife, lock stock, muss fuss, and lean cuisine.  
The latest and the greatest, loot and booty, Mod Squad, lie and pry
Lotions and potions, ma-and-pa, musty and dusty, my and thy.

Burns’ ‘Louse’ and ‘Mouse’*, and Looney-Tunes, and old cartoons with Mick and Minn
Or Huey Dewey Louie, while the cat is OUT and mice are IN.  

There’s likely umpteen others, but so far I can’t imagine them
They’d spread across the alphabet from a-ardvark to zymogen.

  Among Robert Burns many famous poems, "To A Louse" and "To A Mouse" figure prominently. 


Funny (rhyming) money
Loonie and Toonie


September 19, 2020

SEP 19, wordplay map: r-i-c anagrams #5+#6





 

You can view the entire collection of 18 wordplay maps of 'R-E-P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N-S in Canada' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense" by clicking HERE.

September 18, 2020

SEP 18, French savoir-faire: corniches (Nice)







  You can review verses on this topic in a wider context on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Check the post 'Vers Francais: Savoir-Faire' by clicking HERE

September 17, 2020

SEP 17, wordplay maps: American Scramble-towns 9,10



Who would ever have guessed? It turns out that an unparalleled word in generating anagrams (letter scrambles) is P-A-L-I-N-D-R-O-M-E-S. We have taken advantage of that property to create this unique series of wordplay maps of imaginary American (and Canadian) locales, each one completed by its official two-letter state (or provincial) abbreviation. 






 LINKS: 
Forward to U.S.A. map #11
Back to U.S.A. map #7
Let's skip all this stuff and get on to the Canadian version, eh? (stay tuned!)



September 16, 2020

SEP 16, a brief saga: Gino's food intolerance















View these verses in a wider context by proceeding to our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense' and our post on "Food Intolerance".

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. Your blogging team has been presenting these concoctions at the rate of one per month, mixed in with the shorter poems, wordplay and other  astuff that we offer.    
To access the next 'brief saga' on this blog (October 2020), proceed to 'Cyclades'.
To access the most recent previous 'brief saga' (August 2020), back up to 'the Aegean cat'.  


September 15, 2020

SEP 15, reptiles: crocodilian






Authors' Note: Crocodilian refers to the group of water-dwelling predatory reptiles that include the alligator, crocodile, caiman and gavial.

  You can review photos and illustrated herpetologic verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Verses about Reptiles' (don't worry! no snakes)' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.





cellphone photo by G.C. at CawCaw SC:
that's about as close as he wanted to get





September 14, 2020

SEP 14, Toronto ravines: Brickworks photocollages #1-#3










If you are interested in wending your way through an encyclopedic collection of four blogposts stuffed with photo-collages on Toronto ravines, click HERE.

September 13, 2020

SEP 13, wordplay maps: new world palindromes(#37,#38)

 







You can view the entire collection of these 50 wordplay maps, by accessing the collection 'Tourists Palindromic Guides: The Americas'. Start by clicking HERE

September 12, 2020

SEP 12, political palindromes, N, GLITCH


Glitch Notice: The first palindrome should read: Biden One dib. 


From this point, you can proceed either forwards or backwards.

For FORWARD, proceed to the next set of 'POLITICAL PALINDROMES' on October 6.
For BACKWARD, return to the previous set on August 5.

OR, return to the ORIGINAL POST on this topic. 


September 11, 2020

SEP 11, Toronto ravines: Rosedale Valley







 

If you are interested in wending your way through an encyclopedic collection of four blogposts stuffed with photo-collages on Toronto ravines, click HERE.


September 10, 2020

SEP 10, waterfowl: gallinules








 You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Immersible Verse: Limericks about Waterfowl' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. 







September 9, 2020

SEP 9, sleek Greek prefixes: AUTO-






Authors' Note
:

auto is a prefix derived from Greek and Latin meaning 'self' or 'same'.
motto frequently represents a high standard of achievement claimed or aspired to by the person or institution.

We have a verse about 'Autophagia' that you might find intriguing (Click HERE.)

And, HERE's another that you'll probably find less intriguing, even gruesome.

Clicking HERE will introduce you to our entire collection of verses about the Greek prefixes!


September 8, 2020

SEP 8, classic palindrome: 'able ere Elba'



You might also enjoy another verse on this topic, in the collection "Reprehensible Modern History". Click HERE.



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'.