APR 16, classic palindrome: 'Do geese see God?'

Authors' Note:     As with many classic palindromes, the origin of the iconic query,  ‘Do geese see God?’ is, in fact, unknown. The verse, however, suggests that it dates back to at least the fifth century B.C.E. The philosophic query is felt by some to be tarnished, and it remains unanswered into modern times.

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'. 

APR 15, the Charleston garden: Japanese yew

Keep more to yourself for a while, wash your hands frequently, remember to laugh on occasion, and stay well!

TO ENLARGE any slide or stand-alone photo on this blog, just click on it. To reverse the process, and return to this standard view, find the little 'x' in the upper right corner of the black field and click there.

UPDATE (2023): The property on the left no longer ( as of 2023) numbers among our real-estate holdings. See the recent posts on "Reconstructive Attitudes" showing views of an ongoing demolition/reconstruction project! 

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!

APR 14, anagram swarm: A-VERY-STABLE-GENIUS, #5/#6

You can review an amazing number of anagrams based on this book title on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. There are two posts to view:  'A Very Stable Genius': Theme and Variations (97 anagrams), and 

'A Very Stable Genius': additional funky anagrams

APR 13, geysers: second-hand geyser

Authors' Note: Björg(f.) and Björn(m.) are typical Icelandic names.  In Britain, the term geyser, has come to mean a secondary water heater at the point-of-use, e.g. near a bathtub. In Iceland, hot water is distributed to all homes as a part of geothermal energy systems; such devices are not needed, and probably not available.

In North America, such auxiliary plumbing devices are known as ‘tankless water heaters’.

 Björn originally conceived of his gift idea based on occasional offerings of spent hydrogeologic geysers in Icelandic second-hand stores, e.g. the original reliable vent at Geysir which thrilled Victorian tourists has died back, 'replaced' nearby by other vents. The reader is left to judge whether such second-hand devices represent a figment of the author’s imagination or contrived nonsense. 

 

You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Poetry that Spurts: Verses about Geysers' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense".

APR 12, patients and maladies: the common cold

 

Be sure to check out the whole collection of verses on 'Patients and their Maladies" by proceeding to our full-service blog ,"Edifying Nonsense." CLICK HERE !

APR 11, waterfowl: snowy egrets

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'. 

APR 10, a brief saga (wordplay): Claire's celerity

 

Authors' Note: As there is no etymological commonality, wordpairs of similar appearance, but unrelated origins, may have disparate meanings and usages; this is certainly the case for: 

celerity / celery,

gravity / gravy,  

cavity / cavy,

and levity / levy, examples discussed in he above verse.

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 shorter poems, wordplay and other general offerings.    

To access the next 'brief saga' on this blog (May 2020), proceed to 'Fluoridation'.

To access the most recent previous 'brief saga' (March 2020), back up to 'Walrus and Carpenter (Carolina lowcountry version)'.  

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

2020
2021
2022
2023.

 

APR 9, wordplay maps: new world palindromes (#13,#14)

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

APR 8, limerick variations: lengthy limericks -- the 6th line ("addendum-icitis")

Authors' Note: Authors' Note:  Although a limerick is traditionally conceived as a 5-line concoction, once a sixth line ('L6') is developed, it may become an inherent part of the poem. The rule of the majority being what it is, on the OEDILF site for creating well-honed limericks, the L6 is often demeaned as being only an addendum. The reader may detect that the editors of this blog (Dr. G. H. and his registered pseudonym G. C.) are supporters of efforts to avoid the crashing boredom of a universe of traditional 5-liners.

  

On this daily blog, 6-line verses, otherwise adhering to limerick form, can be found on about 150 blogposts for the interval January 2020 to March 2024; generally these involve a single final "extra" line following the A-rhyme pattern used in lines 1,2, and 5. On occasion, in another 2-3 dozen poems, second or third appended lines have also been added; we have named these verses of 7 or more lines "run-on limericks". 

A comment on the multi-verse limerick (a multitude of 5 line-stanzas) can be found HERE.

You can review our entire collection of poems on the topic of "Limerick Variations" as compiled on our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense", by clicking HERE. 

WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE POETRY ON THIS SITE?

POEMS: Poetry appearing on this site was written (unless otherwise indicated) by Giorgio Coniglio (registered pseudonym), and for the most part contributed to the online humour dictionary-site...

OEDILF (Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form). In its 18 years of existence, OEDILF has worked its way alphabetically from Aa- to Gr-, with the goal of accumulating a verse defining every meaning of every word in the English language. This co-operative project has  accumulated over 110,000 carefully edited limericks, with completion date estimated to be around the year 2065. In the past four years, Giorgio has contributed over 400 poems to the project; the site's accession number for the verses is indicated at the bottom of the relevant slides in our presentations. 

  (Update - Ed. note, 2023). Note that other types of verse can also be found on this site. Look around! And the number of OEDILF-approved limericks and limerrhoids has increased to almost 700.

APR 7, poets' corner: gender-neutral language

Authors' Note:    Avoidance of discriminatory gender-bias in language is an unassailable aim. 

   In the medical field, there are many terms which are problematic due to syllables that in written or spoken form make them seem suspect for such bias. Usually, however, this 'problem' is happenstance based on the incorporation of Greek root-words. Sometimes the level of comedy is reached, as in the near-homonym for the male possessive form in the term HYSterectomy' (surgical removal of the uterus). Other medical and non-medical terms with hidden gender-related messages as in the above verses are indicated by font colour.  

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

APR 6, etymology: 'lagoon'

For fans of etymology, we have three blogposts with collections of verses about word-origins such as this one on our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". You can start to review some of this intriguing material by clicking HERE, and then following the links!

APR 5, poetic non-sequitur: close quarters

Authors' Note: Claustrophobe and its variants, claustrophobic and claustrophobia have been defined in other verses at OEDILF.   

 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.

APR 4, pandemic poetry: 'stay-at-home'

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

APR 3, wordplay maps: sister-cities anagrams (10-12)

Keep more to yourself for a while, wash your hands frequently, remember to laugh on occasion, and stay well!

APR 2, magical palindromes: examples #16 to #20

 

You can become an expert fan of our wordplay concoction 'magical palindromes' by reviewing the explanatory material found in ancient days on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense" HERE; then, you could check how we applied this technique to 'canal palindromes' by viewing this more recent post.

APR 1, bottom line of medical humor: diarrhea

 Authors' Note:  

  A euphemism allows one to skirt around the messy details. 

  Diarrhea, a term coined by Hippocrates, derives from the Greek for a flow going through; the details are linked by longstanding usage to the specific intestinal inconvenience, sometimes characterized as "the trots".

  The authors regret that there are no appropriate images to accompany this verse.

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

MAR 30, pandemic poetry: the infirm

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

MAR 29, mammalian wildlife: Geebo's angwantibo

Keep more to yourself for a while, wash your hands frequently, remember to laugh on occasion, and stay well!

Authors' Note:  The angwantibo (an-GWAN-tee-boh) or golden potto, Calabar angwantibo, is a small golden-haired primate inhabiting parts of Central Africa, including the country of Gabon. It undertakes its propagation rituals while hanging from tree-branches. The results of attempts at such matings by unskilled participants are unrecorded.

  To some readers the name Geebo may seem unlikely, but the author assures you that for the first twenty years of his life this nickname (one of the few of which he approved) was in common use, at least by his siblings; it is still used occasionally in close circles.

 

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 !

MAR 28, personal and family history: anniversary saga

Keep more to yourself for a while, wash your hands frequently, remember to laugh on occasion, and stay well!

MAR 27, the Charleston garden: gazebos

Keep more to yourself for a while, wash your hands frequently, remember to laugh on occasion, and stay well!

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'.

MAR 26, Carolina lowcountry: springtime excursions

Keep more to yourself for a while, wash your hands frequently, remember to laugh on occasion, and stay well!

"Nice, hot street pavement for sunning"
(Eastern painted turtle)

immature white ibis (less than two years)
Note the duller color of the bill and legs
and the brown-black body feathers
 versus its older companions
-compare Jan 30 and 31  

early azalea blooms

great egret in the reeds

evening view from Shem Creek Park

MAR 25, holidays and celebrations: Greek Independence Day

 Today is GREEK INDEPENDENCE DAY !

Authors' Note:

evzone: (EHV-zohn, anglicized form), member of an elite unit drawn from the Hellenic Army Infantry Corps

Grand Change: a more elaborate version of the hourly changing of the guard that takes place on Sunday mornings at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Athens' Syntagma Square, providing a popular photo-op for locals and tourists

Kleft (KLEHFT): Greek fighter in the War of Independence

fustanella: kilt made from 30 meters of white cotton, supposedly with 400 pleats to represent each of the years of Ottoman occupation.