FEB 28, Canadiana: snow-biota

verse in honour of Dr. JJ, whose love of life included comedy and the music of poetry ...

Authors' Note:

coyote: wolf-like wild dog,  with range recently extended into southern parts of Canada, and into Carolina coastal communities; a member of the canid family, as are dogs and wolves

cuanto: Spanish for 'how much?’

Pierre (PEER): town named by French explorers, capital of the U.S. state of  South Dakota, located due west of Toronto (2,100 km or 1,330 miles by highway).

  

  In the United States, nicknames (official or unofficial) for individual states are important for aspects such as vehicle licensing plaques, sports team designation and political bloviation. Geographic features and indigenous plants and animals may be so used, as in South Dakota, 'the coyote state’, and South Carolina, 'the palmetto state’. Such symbols are used to a considerably lesser extent in Canada.

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

Incidental Photo:

Algonquin fishing expedition, 1952,
Dr. JJ on reader's right

FEB 27, bar-fauna: at a medical watering-hole

 verse in honour of Dr. JJ, whose love of life included comedy and the music of poetry ...

If you liked this submission, you might want to refer to our entire collection of verses about human and animal denizens of bars, pubs and other watering-holes. Click HERE.

A message from Dr. Gilbert A Hurwitz giolioparody@gmail.com. I hope to add to the recognition of Jeff's astounding professional life. That patient-centered effort, built on sympathy, science, collegiality and expertise was only one of the many pillars on which his life was built. He will be truly missed.

 

A message from Dr. Gilbert A Hurwitz giolioparody@gmail.com. I hope to add to the recognition of Jeff's astounding professional life. That patient-centered effort, built on sympathy, science, collegiality and expertise was only one of the many pillars on which his life was built. He will be truly missed.

A message from Dr. Gilbert A Hurwitz giolioparody@gmail.com.
I hope to add to the recognition of Jeff's astounding professional life. That patient-centered effort, built on sympathy, science, collegiality and expertise was only one of the many pillars on which his life was built. He will be truly missed.

 

FEB 26, life in Palindrome Valley: 'Nauruan' (second language)

verse in honour of Dr. JJ, whose love of life included comedy and the music of poetry ...

Authors' Note: 

(now-ROO-uhn, nah-ROO-uhn)

   In Palindrome Valley, parents and administrators had to decide what second language would be taught in schools. The underlying rationale is obvious. and here's the clue: of the almost two hundred nations on the globe, only the Pacific island-nation of Nauru has a national language and adjectival form that is a palindrome. The interested reader might note that on Nauru itself, while the Australian brand of English, the basis of televised entertainment, is widely understood, over 90% use their unique Austronesian language.

   The author, with an interest in foreign languages from an early age, fantasizes that had he grown up in Palindrome Valley, he would have maintained his skill in speaking Nauruan.

ADDENDUM: 'Malayalam', one of the many languages of South India, related to Sanskrit and Tamil, is also a palindromic name, but although spoken by almost 3% of current Indians, it never represented a national language. 

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'.

Incidental Photo:

' JJ' in rare formal attire, 1961

FEB 25, limerick for lovers of classic languages: Aramaic

verse in honour of Dr. JJ, whose love of life included comedy and the music of poetry ...

To review all of our output on the topic of classic languages, go to our encyclopedic compendium, "Edifying Nonsense"; click HERE !

Incidental Photo:

 

FEB 24, waterfowl: flight of the great blue heron

a photo-concoction in honour of Dr. JJ, who loved the outdoor life ...

Interested readers might also want to review an illustrated poem about great blue herons in an earlier post on this blog. Or, you could check out our entire collection of illustrated verses on this topic in a wider context by proceeding to 'Immersible Verse: Limericks about Waterfowl' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. (Or, if you prefer, you can view all of this stuff on Facebook in Giorgio's photo-albums).

links for any date on this blog: scroll over to the calendar-based listings of 'Past Posts' in the righthand column on this page, choose your month of interest, and then select (by clicking) the post of your choice.

Incidental Photo:

summer in Bermuda (medical externship), 1965

FEB 23, song-spoof: The Animals sing Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky"

  

 'Dr. JJ' enjoyed playing the electric guitar among other instruments. He frequently enlivened major family events by performing parody songs written for the occasion, using base songs from the golden oldies period. His favorite song vehicle was undoubtedly the folk-rock classic "The House of the Rising Sun" (1964) as recorded by the British band 'the Animals'. (A YouTube version is found HERE.)  

"Jabberwock", Giorgio's copy,
 drawing by John Tenniel,
illustrator of Carroll's books

  The authors of this daily blog, Dr. G.H. and his registered pseudonym Giorgio, have been fans for a long time of "Jabberwocky", the iconic  nonsense-poem revealed and discussed in Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass" (1871). On our other blogs, you can find the poem "Mergerwocky", a poetic parody on Jabberwocky that we later realized could be sung to the tune of "The House of the Rising Sun". Your current authors do acknowledge that singing a version of "Jabberwocky" itself has been achieved by the British folk-rock singer-composer Donovan, a pastiche that is recorded in his 1971 album of childrens' songs "HMS Donovan". (Click HERE for the YouTube version). 

To review the rest of the lyrics and chord-charts, follow this link to our song-blog "Silly Songs and Satire" by clicking HERE.

And for historic interest, here is a slide used as part of an open-mike at a ukulele club when the concept of this pastiche was first entertained.  

Incidental Photo:

Dr. JJ, Bermuda, 1965

FEB 22, curtained verse: adultery

posting in honour of Dr. JJ, whose love of life included comedy and the music of poetry ...

 

Authors' Note: 

oy gevalt (oy-guh-VULT): phrase borrowed from Yiddish; an exclamation expressing shock, surprise or disapproval

schadenfreude (SHA-den-froi-duh, or as here, sha-den-FROI-duh): loanword from German; taking delight in others' misfortune

 You can review other mildly scurrilous illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Curtained verse: Faintly Obscene (Selected) Limericks' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.

Incidental Photo:

JJ and youngest bro, 1970

FEB 21, patients and maladies: vitamin A deficiency

Another offering from the repertoire devoted to Dr JJ ...

  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!

Incidental Photo:

at Longboat Key, FL, mid-1970s

FEB 20, reprehensible modern history: cantankerous leaders

verse in honour of Dr. JJ, whose love of life encompassed comedy, satire, and the music of poetry ...

 View the entire collection of poetic assertions on this topic (currently small, but growing) at our more encyclopedic blog 'Edifying Nonsense', by clicking HERE.

Incidental Photo:

Dr JJ (left) in family trio, 1947

FEB 19, funny bones: Jones (fifth metatarsal) fracture

verse in honour of Dr. JJ, whose love of life included comedy and the music of poetry ...

Authors' Note:  In fact, Syd has the right idea. Current therapy for the Jones fracture (which occurs due to repeated twisting stress in dancers and tennis or basketball players) includes surgical placement of a screw that binds the two fragments, to eliminate the possibility of bone non-union that complicated earlier forms of treatment. In cases where surgery is not selected, treatment usually consists of an external cast and avoidance of weight-bearing for six weeks. 

 You can view verses on this topic in a wider context by proceeding to the post 'Breaking News: FUNNY BONES' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE! 

Incidental Photo:

Dr JJ, in tub at reader's left, 1947

FEB 18, palinku (poetic novelty): 45th prez, 3 additional verses

 verse in honour of 'Dr. JJ', whose love of life included comedy, satire, and the music of poetry ...

   

  In this post, we continue with our 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). 

   And, just in case you have forgotten what palindromes are about, your blogsite hosts have arranged a serial set of brief lessons on the topic ('Political Palindromes') which you can review by clicking HERE. 

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You can find a limerick highlighting the classic palindromes, that relates to D. Trump's confidante, the self-alleged dirty trickster Roger Stone, by clicking HERE.

(Ed. note) Verses of this type have continued to accumulate, and there are now a total of 48. You can view them all at one swoop (or in bunches -- they are in a linked series of posts with 10 poems each) if you proceed to our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

Incidental Photo:

1948

FEB 17, binomial phrases: 'flora and fauna'

verse in honour of Dr. JJ, whose love of life included comedy and the music of poetry ...

Authors' Note:  Although 'flora' (the collection of visible plants) and 'fauna' (the collection of visible animals) may be of equal importance, and are familiar to most readers, they seem to be listed preferentially in English dictionaries and encyclopedia in the order shown above.

The above verse highlights the importance of the microbiota, a group of creatures that have flown generally under the radar, the limits of human perception having previously shaped understanding of the range of life on our planet. This underappreciated group of organisms including bacteria, fungi, viruses and others, that teem in and on our bodies and those of all other creatures, in the soil, and even in apparently difficult or hostile environments.     

To review our poetic effusion about binomial phrases proceed to our blog 'Edifying Nonsense', click HERE ! 

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 !

Incidental Photo:

FEB 16, verse inspired by 'Dr. JJ'

 

 links for any date: scroll over to the calendar-based listings of 'Past Posts' in the righthand column on this page, choose your month of interest, and then select (by clicking) the post of your choice.

Incidental Photo:

JJ with family,2020,
 at his summer cottage
(photo courtesy BF)

FEB 15, poets' corner: the poet's family

verse in honour of Dr. JJ, whose love of life included comedy and the music of poetry ...

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).

 

Incidental Photo:

JJ, with his two younger brothers and Mom

FEB 14, wildlife of the Carolina lowcountry: consolation provided by Nature

photo-collage in honour of Dr. JJ, whose loves included the outdoor life ...

brown pelican closeup

egret and shadow

great egret launching

two buddies

waterfowl trio
(great egret stalking slowly,
snowy egret walking,
tricolored heron fishing)

hooded mergansers:
very cute, but quite skittish little ducks

great blue heron

aerial coyote, on guard at a seafood vendor

green anole, displaying its orangy-pink dewlap

pizza delivery boxes in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina,

touting service to 'the Lowcountry'