AUG 31, humorists' scurrilous talk: 'the F-word'

EDITORS' WARNING: You must be at least 12 years of age to read this post! 

The collection of informative verses dealing with 'HUMORISTS' SCURRILOUS TALK' can be found by proceeding to our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

AUG 30, amphibians: Kermit the Frog (reincarnation)

Be sure to check out the whole collection of 'Amphibians' by proceeding to "Edifying Nonsense." CLICK HERE ! 

You can also review more poems about 'Death and the Afterlife' in context on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE!

AUG 29, insects: Ricardo the dragonfly

Authors' Note: Adult dragonflies are carnivores who hunt on the wing, consuming daily up to a fifth of their body-weight in various flying insects, mosquitoes being one of their favorites. 

In the photo by GC, shot in the Muskoka region of Ontario, the insect temporarily has lighted (with wings typically spread) on a tiger lily, presumably to seek as prey the pollen-seeking insects attracted there. 

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.

AUG 28, culinary verse: zucchini (courgettes)

Find the collection of illustrated poems dealing with these issues on the post 'Culinary Verse' on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE!

AUG 27, scopes of medicine: mediastinoscopy

Authors' Note: Prior to the surgical treatment of bronchogenic lung cancer, your doctor will check for possible asymptomatic spread of disease with mediastinoscopy,  including biopsy of lymphatic tissue adjacent to the lungs. 

You can view a collection of verses on this topic  by proceeding to 'Inner Enlightenment: The Scopes of Modern Medicine' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE !

AUG 26, wordplay maps: Scramble-towns of eastern Canada, #1 and #2

Who would ever have guessed? It turns out that an unparalleled word in generating anagrams, i.e. 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 to other nonsense in this series: 

Forward to the next Canadian map, eh?

Back up to the Final U.S.A. map 

AUG 25, poets' corner: free verse

 

You can find lots of other verses on this blog under the rubric "Poets' Corner".  Most of them are in limerick format, and have been subjected to the editing process at OEDILF, the Online English Dictionary in Limerick Form. To access the others, type the phrase Poets Corner into the searchline on this blogpost (at the top of the righthand navigation column).

AUG 24, oncologic verses: Pat's adenoma

 You can view these verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Nurse-Verse: Patients and their Maladies' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

AUG 23, pandemic poetry: cleaning services

Authors' Note: This verse, inspired by OEDILF editor MikeAq's experience with housecleaning during the COVID-19 era imagines the broad spectrum of protective measures needed in the corporate or institutional setting.

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity

AUG 22, commercial product: prostheses for male turkeys

 

Authors' Note: The male turkey's facial snood is an erectile caruncle that plays an important role in his ability to attract females. Unfortunately for domestic toms, commercial turkey breeders see it as advantageous to remove these facial appendages at an early age. The process of desnooding, and its devastating effect on turkey romance, have been versified by the author previously. Commercial development of a prosthesis to assist males in adult life, as described in this verse, is apocryphal.

    

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.

UPDATE:

Your favorite posts by Giorgio can also be found on Facebook as part of his Photo 'Album' collections.

AUG 21, wordplay maps: American Scramble-towns -- finale (21)

Who would ever have guessed? It turns out that an unparalleled word in generating anagrams, i.e. 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: 

Let's get on to the CANADIAN VERSION, eh? (stay tuned!)

Back to U.S.A. map #19

AUG 20, STD-poetry: weighing anchor (primary syphilis)

Authors' Note: 

weigh anchor: opposite of 'drop anchor', a naval expression for the last step taken in preparation before the ship leaves port 

The symptoms of primary syphilis most often involve genital skin lesions, or chancres, that appear an average of three weeks after contracting the disease, caused by Gram-negative bacteria in the spiroch(a)ete family. Some patients, however, will remain without symptoms until the later stages of the disease develop insidiously.  

You can review verses on this topic in a wider context in a post on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense" by proceeding to 'Ruination, Rumination and Reminiscence: STD-Poetry'. Click HERE. 

AUG 19, dental feelings (sentimental verse): prognathism

Authors' Note: 

gnathic: referring to the jaw or to the mandibular bone

idiopathic: of unknown cause

You can review the collection of illustrated verses on this topic by proceeding to the post 'Dental Feelings' on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.

AUG 18, a brief saga: 'French denial'

 

 You can review other 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. 

 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 multiverse poem is shown here on the slide with its first verse. 

To access the next 'brief saga' on this blog, proceed to 'the cormorant rookery'.

To access the most recent previous 'brief saga', back up to 'radiation exposure'.

AUG 17, palinku (poetic novelty): baked goods

 In this post, we will continue with a novel form of poetic wordplay. Inspired by Japanese haiku poetry, this new form is used for a terse verse with a total of 17 syllables displayed on three lines. Unlike its classic Japanese analogue, this concoction does not mandate the precise distribution of the syllables among the three lines, but does stipulate that each word in the poem be included in a palindromic phrase or sentence in English (i.e. one that can be read either forwards or backwards). 

  To help the reader discern the origin of the lyrics, each palindrome (generally occupying one of the three lines of the poem) has been color-coded. 

 

(Ed. note:) Verses of this type have continued to accumulate, and there are now more than 50 of them. You can easily view them all  if you  proceed  to our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.(Or, if your prefer, you can view all this material on Facebook  in Giorgio's photo-albums.)

AUG 16, portraits of couples: trumpeter swans, black-necked swans

Enjoy an illustrated poem about the trumpeter swan, Cygnus buccinator, by clicking HERE.

You can view this sample from our portfolio of 'Couples' portraits in a wider context on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense" HERE. 

AUG 15, reptiles: beneficial snakes

Authors' Note: 

‘The Palmetto State’: South Carolina

plenum: from the Latin for ‘full’, a deliberative meeting of a body in which all members are present, contrasted with quorum

plenumous: ad hoc neologism indicating the importance of the issue at hand

Your contributions to the BPSS, tax-free, will help us in our efforts to counter anti-social behavior in South Carolina (the palmetto state) by the following: 

eastern diamondback, timber/canebrake and pygmy rattlesnakes,

copperheads, 

cottonmouths,

coral snakes.

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'.

AUG 14, wordplay maps: American Scramble-towns, 19,20

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. 

 

Forward to U.S.A. map #21 (final American version)

Back up to U.S.A. maps #17,#18

AUG 13, to clot or not: anti-coagulant drugs

 

You can view these verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'To Clot, or Not to Clot' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

AUG 12, binomial phrases (intro): 'hale and hearty'

Authors' Note:   A binomial pair, phrase, or expression, is a language element consisting of a pair of words that are used in a fixed order as an idiom. The two members of the pair are the same part of speech, are semantically related, often near-synonyms or antonyms, and are most commonly joined by and, or or; they often play a role as clichés. The term irreversible binomial was presumably coined and extensively discussed by American philologist Yakov Malkiel in 1954. The most catchy of these phrases are alliterative, as hale and hearty, or rhyming, as in health and wealth or haste makes waste.

Parody-song reminiscence about binomial phrases and some other word-pair entities:

 

 To review the poetic effusion that we have accumulated about binomial phrases proceed to our blog "Edifying Nonsense", and check the post  'Grandpa Greg's Advanced Grammar: Binomial Expressions'. Click HERE ! (Or, if you prefer, you could look over this stuff on Giorgio's Facebook photo-albums.) 

There is also an entire collection of lyrics to patter songs, somewhat older material, dedicated to various kinds of binomials, that provides more didactic material and an extensive series of examples, and allows you to sing these expressions for your own enjoyment, or for that of others around you. Click HERE !

AUG 11, life in Palindrome Valley: bidirectional pen (souvenirs)

You can review other illustrated verses on this topic by proceeding to the collection 'Life in Palindrome Valley' on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.

AUG 10, new world palindromes: national wrap-up

 

AUG 9, doctors and their practices: hematologists

Authors' Note: The field of hematology encompasses a wide range of blood maladies, including anemias and clotting disorders. On our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense", you can find a related blogpost with numerous verses on the latter topic. Click HERE for "To Clot, or Not to Clot".

 

You can view these informative verses about the spectrum of medical practitioners by proceeding to the collection 'DOCTORS and their PRACTICES' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

AUG 8, old world palindromes: national wrap-up

AUG 7, variant Nantucket limerick: slbling ribaldry

You can review our entire collection of spoof verses based on the iconic Nantucket limericks on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense' by clicking HERE.

 

AUG 6, garden intruders: deer fencing

Authors' Note:

specs: frequently used jargon for specifications

  The specs for deer fencing, also known as deer fence, agricultural fencing or deer exclusion fencing, include a height of eight feet (250 cm), with no sharp protuberances that might injure the deer.

Readers, you are fortunate to have available all our poetic comments on creatures (animal and vegetable), devoted to subverting your gardening plans. To view this collection our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense", click HERE!

AUG 5, bi-lyrical limerick: 'go/went'

 

The original limerick:

Be sure to check out the whole collection of 'bi-lyrical limericks' by proceeding to "Edifying Nonsense." CLICK HERE ! (Or, if you prefer, you could look over this stuff on Giorgio's Facebook photo-albums.) 

AUG 4, urban concerns: aged street tree

Authors' Note: This verse drew inspiration from the poem "Cuore di Legno" (Heart of Wood) by poet Primo Levi. In the poem, the narrator, an aged horse chestnut growing on a busy urban street, complains of, among other insults, being peed on by neighborhood dogs. 

AUG 3, bottom line of medical humor: anorectal disorders (proctology)

Authors' Note: In North America, many proctologists now prefer to be known (professionally) as 'colorectal surgeons'. 

You can view these informative verses in a wider context by proceeding to the collection 'The BOTTOM LINE of MEDICAL HUMOR' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

AUG 2, numbers: twins (2)

 You can review our cumulated nonsense about numbers by clicking HERE.

Related photo:

pas-de-deux,
National Ballet of Canada,
Harbourfront, Toronto,

AUG 1, Canadiana: Kim Jong Un's imaginary visit

Authors' Note:  There is no satisfactory explanation for the similarity of the words encumber and cucumber.

   Kim Jong Un, third successive member of his family's ruling dynasty, became leader of North Korea in 2011. He has since garnered world attention by his blustering role in his country's programs to develop missiles and nuclear weapons; the latter are widely known informally as nukes.

   In the northern Canadian territories (Northwest Territory, Nunavut and the Yukon), the soil is poor in organic components and prone to salinity and permafrost. Cucumbers, known informally as cukes, must be imported into the Yukon from crops grown further south. The reader may well agree that these territories should remain nuke-free as well as cuke-free.

You can review poems, pictures and diverse nonsense related to Canada on the post "Canadiana" on our full-service blog  "Edifying Nonsense".