DEC 30, singable satire: "CAROLINA WINTER MORNING"

PARODY-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: "Carolina in the Morning" written 1922, best-known version is by Al Jolson.

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, January 2014, in response to an unusual weather phenomonon.
You can also view these lyrics and commentary (without images or chords) displayed on a parody-lyrics website at AmIRight.com Post "Carolina Winter Morning".

PARODY-SONGLINK: To find ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany "CAROLINA WINTER MORNING" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.

Southern subdivision

Ravenel Bridge, SC,
from Mt Pleasant to Charleston
closed due to ice

Near Charleston harbor, Jan 2014

CAROLINA WINTER MORNING

(to the tune of "Carolina in the Morning")

Yankees call us whiners -  snow in coastal Carolina! ice-storm warning

Heat pumps, 'lectric stripping, so the breakers flip, they're tripping in the morning.

Where is global warming when we need it most? 

Weathering this month's storming, our palmetto trees are toast.

Bridges closed confine ya', snow in coastal Carolina; cancel meetings. 

Sleet looks so much neata' when you're cozied near the heata', if you've heating.

Towns don't have no snow ploughs, so just stay home, folks;

View through frosty windows icy Spanish-mossy oaks.

Blame the Great Designer, don't malign the coal strip-miners - no El Niño.

Random variation, polar air mass brings us Fahrenheit nineteen - oh!

If I had some winter treads and I wouldn't skid,

I'd skulk off further south, then boast what I did;

Something could refine the clime of coastal Carolina winter mo-o-orn-ings! 

DEC 29, singable satire for HOGMANAY (New Year's Eve): Auld Lang's sine

reprise from December 30, 2020

DEC 30, a brief saga: Hogmanay (New Year's Eve)

 A HAPPY NEW YEARS TO ALL !!!

Incidental photo (start of 2023):

midnight scene from our Toronto aerie

 

DEC 28, painterly poetry: Alfred Sisley, en plein air

 

You can view review other information about Sisley and his painting by accompanying us to the Courtauld Gallery, London, UK, by clicking HERE.

OR, check out our entire collection of illustrated verses on 'painterly poetry' exhibited on "Edifying Nonsense" by clicking HERE. 

DEC 27, wordplay: Scramble-towns eastern Canada,14

 

LINKS to other nonsense in this series: 

Forward to the next Canadian map (15), eh?

Back up to the first Canadian map.

Back up to the first American map.

DEC 26, mammalian wildlife: gerbils

Authors' Note:

Honest Herb(ie), a westponder, concedes that pronouncing the herbal 'H' in Britain and Australia may be the norm there, but he prefers the more common North American way to say it with the 'H' silent, as in 'hour', and 'honest'.  In fact, language detectives may correctly intuit that Herb is a Canadian, as he spells offence with a 'c', rather than the 's' used by Americans.

The Mongolian gerbil, Meriones unguiculatus, a hardy small herbivorous rodent has become a popular pet. Originally a resident of Asia transported for use as a research subject, it was introduced from the US to the UK in 1964; its pronunciation preferences currently remain unrecorded.

Check out this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolian_gerbil

You can review the whole collection of illustrated verses about mammals (both domestic and exotic) by checking out the more extensive post on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE !

DEC 25, submitted palindromes: RANDOM PILES 29

 

You have reached the "Submitted Palindromes" thread on the blog "Daily Edifying Nonsense", a light literary entity that emanates through the blogosphere daily (almost), i.e. 30 times per month.

  On the 25th of each month you will find a slide-filling group of palindromic phrases submitted to the editors by a panel of 7 palindromists. These folks have all been working on this project since January 2020. The personal profiles for each of these contributors are displayed in panels published here at the start of things, and then, we have asked them to provide (palindromically, of course) their views on one of the iconic items in the classic literature, starting with "A man, a plan, a canal -- Panama", continuing with other well-known phrases, such as "Dennis sinned". Otherwise, their contribution will be grouped in monthly random piles (a phrase that you might recognize as an anagram of the word p-a-l-i-n-d-r-o-m-e-s).

You can access this delightful entertainment right here by entering submitted palindromes in one of the two search bars at the top of this post and scrolling downwards through the wordplay posts that you will discover, OR, just follow the links indicated above. 

Devotees of palindromic wordplay can further explore limericks and other short verses about the classic palindromes (and quite a few recent concoctions) that are randomly scattered on this blog after September 2000, or collected into grouped postings on our more scholarly blog "Edifying Nonsense" -- start HERE.

DEC 24, binomial phrases: "publish or perish"

Authors' Note: The above treatise was assisted by a grant from the Foundation for Classic Binomial Expressions, under which permission was obtained for the use of song and dance, ants in one's pants, and publish or perish. (Other paired expressions, cheer and cherish, and funding and grants, are under development).

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 !

DEC 23, objectionable adjectives: fulsome

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to P.E.H. !!!!!!!

 

Authors' Note: Pretentiousness may be at work when the word fulsome is (ab)used by a writer or speaker who feels that 'full' is not sufficiently impressive.

You can review our editorially selected doggerel (eight verses) relating to 'Objectionable Adjectives' by clicking HERE.

DEC 22, higher connection: great chain of being

Authors' Note: Originally conceived by Plato and Aristotle as a construct to explain the universe, the Great Chain of Being, known in Latin as scala naturae, organized all beings and matter in a hierarchy, descending from heavenly powers through humans, animals, plants and minerals. 

   In medieval times, the concept was expanded as a rationale for the Divine Right of Kings, and to deny unapproved social mobility.  

 

Our collection of 'Non-Sequiturs' on our parent blog "Edifying Nonsense", contains an admittedly bizarre assortment of nonsensical odds-and-ends, that don't quite fit into other topic-based offerings. But should you want to review the entire collection, click HERE.

Incidental Photo:

the holiday season is upon us ...

Readers can view our collected verses dealing with 'higher connections' by clicking HERE.

DEC 21, STD-poetry: latent lues

Authors' Note:  VDRL (initialism for venereal disease research laboratory): a screening blood test for syphilis developed in 1906 and updated in 1946

   Syphilis is sometimes referred to medically as lues, accounting for the choice of name for our protagonist.

   This verse, dealing with the asymptomatic latent stage, follows the author’s verse ‘chancre’, a manifestation of the early (‘primary’) stage. Treatment with penicillin at either of these stages is dramatically effective at preventing the dire consequences of progression to symptomatic late (‘tertiary’) disease.

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

DEC 20, cynic's singable satire: "GLOBAL ROASTING CAN BE SET ASIDE"

 PARODY-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: "The Christmas Song", a.k.a. "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire..." written by Wells and Tormé, 1944; recorded by the Nat King Cole Trio in 1946.

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, November 2014.
PARODY-SONGLINK: To access ukulele chord-charts to help you accompany "GLOBAL ROASTING CAN BE SET ASIDE" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.

THE CLIMATE-CYNIC'S SONG
("Global Roasting Can Be Set Aside")

(to the tune of "The Christmas Song")  
 

Al Gore
former U.S. Vice-President

Planet’s roasting can be set aside.

Al Gore’s nightmare can’t unfold -

Records tumbling, roads closed, bursting pipes

And six-foot drifts in Buffalo ...  

   ...Armchair  experts doubt, outliers like some melting floes
Help predict our global fate.
Tiny dots graphing century lows-
 Warm some years, but it’s not too late.

We know that Sa-anta’s on his way;    

If he brings shorter winters here - more time to play!

I’ll ditch my snowboots, yet retire in my town,

‘Cause rising seas may make South Florida drown.

And so I send November sympathies,

Where Christmas came too soon this year -

Although it’s been said many times many ways,

Glad it didn’t, glad it didn’t,

Glad it didn’t hap - pen here.

DEC 19, death and the afterlife: where bad Jews go

 

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

DEC 18, news-post: FIFA (soccer) World Cup 2022

 FIFA WORLD CUP 2022:

Final at Qatar venue ends in 3-3- tie. 

Thrilling tie-breaker, Argentina, Messi: What more can you say ?

DEC 17, palinku (poetic novelty): timidity

 You can view  all our "palinku" verses if you proceed with a single click tthat will take you to our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE. (Or if you prefer, you can stay on this particular blogsite and look for the offerings for the 17th day of each month -- there are now more than 60 of these.)
 V

DEC 16, patients and their maladies: Graves' disease

 

Authors' Note:  Graves' disease (often shortened by medical types to the ominous-sounding Graves' ), described by Robert Graves in 1835, is a common auto-immune disease that attacks the internal controls in the thyroid gland, and results in the overproduction of thyroid hormones. Significant symptoms result from hyperthyroidism, the hypermetabolic state that is produced.

Among several effective treatments, antithyroid drugs, taken over months or years, block production of these hormones, and often result in resumption of the euthyroid (normal) state.       

You can view collections of verses on this topic by proceeding to "Nurse-Verse: PATIENTS and their MALADIES" on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

DEC 15, reptiles: herpetophobes

Authors' Note: 

ophidiophobia: an extreme or incapacitating fear of snakes

herpetophobia: a similar anxiety disorder extending to all reptiles

The reptilian suborder Serpentes was previously known as Ophidia, a term derived from ophis, Greek for 'snake'. 

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

DEC 13, duplication: harum-scarum

Readers willing to go down an internet rabbit-hole can easily get to a collection of more than a dozen other short verses SHORT VERSES  in which we have dealt with specific reduplications. 

If interested you could also discover three fairly lengthy PATTER-SONGS about this fascinating linguistic phenomenon. These songs form an important part of our cycle of 9 songs about "Word Pairs".

DEC 12, folio-entry, couples: gorillas

 

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

DEC 11, dental feelings (sentimental verse): gnashing, bruxism

  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'.

DEC 10, a brief saga: hemianopsia

Authors' Note: Loss of sight in half of an eye's visual field is a medically well-characterized and significant lesion known as hemianopsia, or occasionally hemianopia. An attack on the underlying lesion, often deep within the brain is in the province of neurosurgeons, and often a multidisciplinary team is needed. The bitemporal pattern discussed here, involving the lateral half of each eye's visual field, is less common than homonomous hemianopsia. For further reading on this topic, the Wikipedia article is suggested.

Authors' Note:  Lesions in the occipital, or posterior portion of the brain's cerebral hemispheres are notorious for producing visual disruption. Each side of this sensitive area of brain tissue is targeted at integrating one half of the patient's visual field (to left or right). So for example, a tumour in the right side of the occipital lobe interrupts the signals arriving from the nerve fibres in the right side of the retina in both eyes; the patient's ability to see objects in the well-defined semi-circular zone to his left is eliminated in a fashion that is homonomous, i.e. congruent - both eyes are affected similarly. The resulting pattern of contralateral loss of visual sensation (homonomous hemianopsia) may be mapped by a test known as perimetry (visual-field analysis).

 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 are involved in a collaborative editing process that may take several weeks to over a year. 

 There are now over 40 of these lengthier bits of doggerel featured at OEDILF in Giorgio's "Author's Showcase". The OEDILF number for each accepted multiverse poem is shown here on the slide with its first verse. We have been blog-publishing these poetic adventures here monthly since January 2020.

To access the next 'brief saga' on this blog (January 2023), proceed to... 'Squid in the Time of Covid'.  

To access the most recent previous 'brief saga' (November 2022), back up to 'Palindrome Workshop'.

 To access all of our 'brief sagas' by the year of their creation, click on your selection below.

2020
2021
2022
2023.

DEC 9, holidays and celebrations: poinsettias

Authors' Note:  Poinsettia is now the common name by which this seasonal plant is known around the world.

  Joel Poinsett, South Carolinian physician and amateur botanist, served as the first US ambassador (a position designated as minister) to Mexico. In the 1820s, he sent home to his greenhouses samples of Euphorbia pulcherrima (member of the spurge family), locally known as flor de nochebuena (Christmas Eve), linked to the Hispanic nativity celebration. 

  Distribution of the poinsettia in the US was enhanced by development of cultivars with a more lush profusion of the colored bracts, and recently, by variants in other appealing colors. Today, a single nursery in Texas accounts for 70% of American sales, and half of all global sales of this decorative seasonal specialty.

  Incidentally, although the plant is assumed by many to be toxic, that possibility appears based on an incorrect original report, unsupported by other evidence.

 
rainy-day visit to the
Allan Gardens Conservatory