FEB 29, photo-collage: views from the Carolina lowcountry

boardwalk at Shem Creek, Mt. Pleasant SC

Carolina anole, napping in our backyard

longleaf pine, re-establishing itself
on an old rice plantation

Carnival cruise

political perturbation

allee of moss-covered live oak trees,
 lining an old road at a rice plantation

pelican, skimming surface of the creek

a small boat tries to imitate the pelican

                                                  

 

FEB 29r, Carolina lowcountry: 'winter' excursion

 a) reprise from 2020

FEB 1, Carolina lowcountry: winter afternoon bicycle outing

If you are viewing these photos with an i-phone:
1) Hovering the selection arrow over any photo will prompt the appearance of the 'title'.
2) You can enlarge any photo (a black background may appear) by clicking it.
3) To escape from black-background-display limbo, look for a TINY 'x' in the far upper-right corner, and click there.
The procedure is mostly the same on a PC, but the tininess of the escape mechanism on my iphone7 is truly remarkable.

Giorgio (on the left) with
Pete the Plastic Pelican

Other Canadian retirees

At the harbor,
Mt. Pleasant SC

Lunch: Heron-herring?
No! That's a great egret with a shrimp

lowcountry pizza-boxes

b) current birdie-pic

window-strike by persistent bluebird: frontal view

FEB 28r, Charleston garden: garden-tour docent

 

a) reprise from February 2020

FEB 26, the Charleston garden: garden-tour docent

You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Poetry Praising the Charleston Garden' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE!

b) oyster-roast nostalgia

     

Elegant table service at an outdoor charity event:
 Steamed oyster clusters

 

FEB 27, defining opinion: honk

 

Our blogpost "Defining Opinion" on the topic-based blog "Edifying Nonsense" shows a selection of similar verses submitted to OEDILF (the online Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form). You can see all of these on one visit by clicking HERE.

FEB 26, chemical states: Canadian provinces and territories

 You can view the collection of posts on this topic with this link to our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense" -- click HERE.

FEB 25r, canal verse: the St-Martin canal, Paris

 

a) reprise from February 2020

You can discover a bunch of silly illustrated poems about canals by checking out the collection on "Edifying Nonsense" entitled "Panama Palindrome Parodies".

b) current political turmoil, US version

polling station for SC Republican primary,
all quiet (2024) 

,

FEB 24, American satire (prolongation): Nikki Haley rally

 We hope that you enjoyed this verse, concocted just in time for the South Carolina primary election. You can find 40 more on this topic in 6 collections on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE to start! 

FEB 23r, Carolina lowcountry: walkability in Mt Pleasant SC

 

a) reprise from January 2020

JAN 3, Carolina lowcountry: walkability in Mt Pleasant SC

pizza delivery boxes in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, 
 touting service to 'the Lowcountry'

b) current birdie-pic

bluebird, frontal close-up

FEB 22r, bottom line of medical humor: gastro-intestinal pact

 

a) reprise from February 2020

Feb 22, bottom line of medical humor: gastro-intestinal pact

Authors' Note: The concept of a formal truce was approached by both parties following the authors' misguided indulgence in the preparation for an endoscopic procedure. 

 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!

b) incidental photo

me and my shadow 

FEB 21r, American satire: nursery rhyme -- 'grating'

 

a) reprise from January 2020

JAN 21, American satire(1): nursery rhyme -- 'grating'

b) current birdie-pic

red-bellied woodpecker

FEB 20, singable satire: Tom Lehrer sings "NO ELEMENTS"

PARODY-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: "The Elements", a parody by Tom Lehrer,1959. 

PARODY COMPOSED: "No Elements", Giorgio Coniglio, a patter-song based on examples of the third declension of Latin nouns, April 2013. A decade later, it might be worthwhile to review these lyrics once more!

EXPLANATION: Lehrer had adapted the tune of "The Major General's Song" from Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance". There are 3 somewhat different melodies/chord-sequences used in alteration through the GandS song, and in Lehrer's derived take-off.

PARODY SONGLINK: You can view the lyrics for "No Elements" with chord indications for ukulele or guitar, if you wish to accompany your singing of these lines. But warning! It is not an easy task, particularly the singing part! Click HERE.

NO ELEMENTS          

(to the tune of "The Elements")    

Singable Introduction:
Tom Lehrer became a legend with his scientific patter-song,

More popular and loved than his unpublished “Anti-Matter Song”;

Enhancing humdrum discourse, just to quote his ode lends elegance

To conversation thrumming with the spectrum of the Elements.

  

We face this glum conundrum as alumni of Philology:

Lay-folk would like a list replete with Latin etymology

The possibilities for neutral nouns in -U-M loom awesome;

No need to invoke hokum terms like tantrum or opossum, chum.

Most names for elements are
 neutral Latin nouns

The Roman empire included England

  

A famous building in Rome

      




 

Patter-Song Lyrics:
There’s atrium, asylum, arboretum, auditorium

Compendium and modicum and rostrum, crematorium

And coliseum, quantum, condominium, euphonium

And album, acetabulum, museum, pandemonium.

            

There’s maximum and minimum and optimum and medium

And opium, opprobrium, colloquium and tedium

Colostrum, serum, sputum, sebum, nostrum and meconium

And sternum, talcum, labium, ovum, spermatogonium.  

Caladium, nasturtium and laburnum and geranium

And sacrum, c(a)ecum, ischium and tympanum and cranium

Consortium, memorandum, and symposium and podium

Desideratum, datum, vacuum, ultimatum, odium.

There’s pablum, perineum, paramecium, petroleum

And locum and inoculum, lyceum and linoleum

A few English words ending in -UM
 are not of Latin origin

And tritium, deuterium, trapezium and trillium
Mycelium, flagellum, endothelium and cilium.

There’s quorum and decorum, mausoleum, moratorium

And premium, per-annum, honorarium, emporium

And pendulum and forum, fulcrum, speculum, bacterium

And cerebellum, plenum, sum, curriculum, delirium.

Gymnasium and stadium and magnum and terrarium

Solarium, momentum, myocardium, aquarium

And scrotum and factotum and postpartum and continuum

And duodenum, referendum, rectum and residuum.

Addendum #1
There's stratum, alum, allium, alluvium et alia,
And mom's pouch called marsupium, but mostly in Australia.

Addendum #2

To plural them, heads swirling them, “What single rule? - please answer, Pa”.

My dictum, “Don’t inflict ‘em with erratums or chrysanthema !” 

 

FEB 19r, waterfowl: Canada geese

 

a) reprise from February, 2020

FEB 19, waterfowl: Canada geese

b) updated birdie-pic

occasional aggressive stance adopted by a Canada goose

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

FEB 18r, pathos and poetry (gun control): Second Amendment rights

 

a) reprise from February 2020

FEB 18, pathos and poetry (gun control verse): Second Amendment rights

 

b: current birdie-pic

red-bellied woodpecker

FEB 17, palinku (poetic novelty): precepts

  In this post, we will continue with our novel form of poetic wordplay. Inspired by Japanese haiku poetry and its English language versions, this new form is used for a terse verse with a total of 17 syllables displayed on three lines. Unlike earlier forms, the "palinku" 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. 

ADDENDUM: Anyone for tenets?

 You can readily view all our verses of this type if you proceed with a single click 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.)