July 20, 2022

JUL 20, singable satire: Glen Campbell sings "ROSENSTEIN"

from EdNonsMar20'19 

ORIGINAL SONG:  "Galveston", by Jimmy Webb, popularized by Glen Campbell, 1969.
Enjoy Campbell's great guitar solo HERE on Youtube. 
SATIRE COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, April 2018. Readers interested in this topic might also enjoy the lyrics for  "Dark Schemes".
PARODY-SONGLINK: To access ukulele chord-charts to help you accompany "Rosenstein" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.




ROSENSTEIN

(to the tune of "Galveston"
  

Rosenstein, Rod Rosenstein
We're amazed your probe's still thriving,
With Trump's Fox News minions striving
(Mueller undermine), to trash you, Rosenstein.

Rosenstein, Rod Rosenstein,
You're in charge, with Jeff recusing,
You're the target for abusing,
Search warrant signed, by you, Rod Rosenstein.

Documents were seized from Cohen, the fixer.
Stormy's hush-funds source we're keen to see,
Do his tapes show complicity,
Or reveal "No collusion"'s a lie?

Rosenstein, Rod Rosenstein,
Trump has ranted 'bout your firing,
With stooges Steve and Devin trying,
To impeach. But please, like Ryan, don't resign,
Rod Rosenstein, Rod Rosenstein.    


CAST OF CHARACTERS

Rod Rosenstein, Deputy Attorney General in the U.S. Department of justice, January 2017 to present.
Donald Trump, President.
Robert Mueller, Special Counsel, appointed by Rosenstein, May 2017, to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election.
James Comey, FBI Director, 2013-2017. His firing by Trump instigated Mueller's appointment as special counsel. His book "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership" was released May 1, 2018.
Jeff Sessions, U.S. Attorney General, appointed by Trump in 2016
Michael Cohen, Trump's personal lawyer and fixer, implicated in the payment of hush funds to Daniels and others.
Stormy Daniels, porn film star and director, seeking relief from a non-disclosure agreement arranged by Cohen just prior to the election in 2016, in relation to her claim of a tryst with D.T. 
Steve Bannon, senior advisor to Donald Trump, formerly CEO of the alt-right outlet "Breitbart News"; filled the newly created position 'White House Chief Strategist' for 7 months until an apparent falling-out the President. 
Devin Nunes, Republican congressman from California since 2003; chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence 2015-2018; unrelenting Trump supporter. 
Paul Ryan, House Republican leader and Speaker, 2015-2018, who announced his pending resignation, putatively for family reasons, at the time of the initial furore over the search of Cohen's home and offices.


July 19, 2022

JUL 19, organic brain poetry: early-onset Alzheimer's



Authors' Note:  Recent reports point out the devastating effects of an early onset of Alzheimer's dementia. Fortunately, this variant, manifesting at an earlier than usual age, is relatively uncommon, but isn't it time that we discovered the cause and treatment for this tragic disorder?

And, HERE are some old parody-song lyrics we composed in 2014, lamenting the lack of successful research in this area.
You can view and review all our verses on the topic of 'Organic Brain Poetry' by following this link to the encyclopedic collection on "Edifying Nonsense."


July 18, 2022

JUL 18, funny bones: heterotopic ossification (HO)

 


Authors' Note: 

 (HET-uhr-oh-top-ic, as here, or het-uhr-oh-TOP-ic)

      Usually asymptomatic, new bone formation in extra-skeletal sites seems to occur after physical or surgical trauma, particularly in the lower limbs following joint replacement. Occasionally, within several weeks after the inciting episode, tenderness and swelling near major joints may occur, needing to be differentiated from venous blockage, and requiring bone scanning for detection, as initial radiographs may be negative; this variant syndrome is known as myositis ossificans. Rarely, in progressive cases, surgery is eventually required to allow mobility at affected joints.


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! 

July 17, 2022

JUL 17, palinku (poetic novety): invective

 





 You can 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.)

July 16, 2022

JUL 16, braincheck: visual cortex





Authors' Note: 

   Korbinian Brodmann (1868–1918) was a German neurologist famous for his definition of 52 cerebral cortical areas based on their histological (tissue-architecture) characteristics. Functional correlates were defined for many of these areas, and the primary and subsidiary areas of visual interpretation are often described by their Brodmann numbers. 
   The primary visual cortex, straddling the calcarine (Latin: spur) sulcus (fissure or slit), is located on the inner surface of each cerebral hemisphere's occipital lobe, well protected from injury.


You can check your knowledge of brain structure and function in health and disease by reviewing our entire collection of illustrated verses on this topic. To review 'BRAINCHECK' on topic-oriented  blog "Edifying Nonsense", click HERE.

July 15, 2022

JUL 15, death and the afterlife: homes in heaven



Authors' Note: 

chutzpah (Yiddish): shameless audacity
Shemayim (Hebrew): heaven

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


July 14, 2022

JUL 14, national and multinational verse: la Francophonie


 



Authors' Note:

d'accord (da-KOHR): French for "certainly" or  "of course"
pays (peh-EE):  "country" (singular or plural)
Belgique (behl-ZHEEK):  Belgium
Canada (ka-na-DUH): French version
Haïti (ah-ee-TEE or ah-ee-SEE): Haiti, a difficult name for anglophones
     to pronounce
Afrique (a-FREEK): Africa
Mozambique: former Portuguese colony on Africa's southeast coast; it's name does not derive from French   


You can review our collection of verses about various individual nations, and about the groupings to which they belong, on our topic-based blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE




July 13, 2022

JUL 13, defining opinion: hooey



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 iLimerick Form). You can see all of these on one visit by clicking HERE.

July 12, 2022

JUL 12, duplication: hobos




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".


                                                                                           

July 11, 2022

JUL 11, numbers: eleven/elf (11)






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

July 10, 2022

JUL 10, a brief saga (singular plurals): careers

 




Authors' Note: 
Grandpa Greg asked us to pass on this message: "You can view the entire collection of verses about 'pluralia tantum' 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 iLimerick 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. 

 Generally, OEDILF has not been enormously welcoming of multi-verse submissions, but Giorgio Coniglio has persisted, and there are now over 40 of these multi-verse poems featured in his '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.

 To access the next 'brief saga' on this blog (August 2022), proceed to 'Mar-a-Lago' (dacha).
To access the most recent previous 'brief saga' (June 2022), back up to 'Canada'.
To access all of our 'brief sagas' by the year of their creation, click on your selection below.

July 9, 2022

JUL 9, doctors and their practices: lithotripsy specialist




Authors' Note: 'dais' may apparently be pronounced DYE-uhs or DAY-uhs, although the authors had been familiar with only the former pronunciation.


You can view these informative verses in a wider context by proceeding to the collection 'DOCTORS and their PRACTICES' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

July 8, 2022

JUL 8, poets' corner: 'Held'




Authors' Note:

 Held: a state of workshopping selected by an OEDILF author to shield their submission from discussion until further self-editing makes it suitable to return to the Tentative state for open collegial comment

A reminder: the Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form is an online humor dictionary that has been making its way for 17 years through the alphabet to define the meaning(s) of each word in the English language. Its highly polished verses are accumulated by a collaborative editing process. In its 19 years of existence, it has progressed from A- to Ho-.  


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

  



July 7, 2022

JUL 7, trees: crepe myrtle xxxxxxxxxxxxLil






Addendum: Fall color, mid-Atlantic seaboard
photo kindly contributed by MMH



You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Uprooted Verse: 'Poems about Trees' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". 


As today is Lil's birthday, we are re-posting some old photos. She would be 106 today!








































1976



















July 6, 2022

JUL 6, binomial phrases: "down and out"




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 !


July 5, 2022

JUL 5, insects: cryoprotection


Authors' Note: The isabella tiger moth, Pyrrharctia isabella enters the cold season in wintry parts of North America in the form of a banded woolly bear caterpillar. Traditionally, her peer-group would attempt to get through the winter by altering their metabolism to manufacture compounds known as cryoprotectives, allowing them to recover from freezing. Our protagonist seems to have discovered another way around this challenge.

 

July 4, 2022

JUL 4, American anagram swarms: election fraud

reprise from July 4, 2021


JUL 4, anagram swarm: 'ELECTION FRAUD' #4

 Continuing from the posts of January 16January 18January 20January 22January 24, and January 27. You might note that there are now more than 200 anagrams in this collection. Who would have guessed?




If you have enjoyed this post, you can find a series of other 'American anagram swarms' gathered in two posts on our 'parent' blog "Edifying Nonsense".  To get started, click HERE


July 3, 2022

JUL 3, English literature survey course: "La Belle Dame sans Merci" (Keats' poem)



Authors' Note: 

rêverie (rehv-uh-REE): French for ‘dream, daydream’

grotesque: term adopted from French for an ancient Roman decorative artform rediscovered in Rome in the 15th century. Grotesques depict fantastical scenes and figures; the related adjective highlights the bizarre and even frightening nature of the images

grot: poetic variant of ‘grotto’ 

merci (mehr-SEE): French for mercy, forgiveness

   The usual critical view is that the protagonist of the poem, transfixed by the 'faery's child', has been trapped and victimized. However, Keats' description in his poem written in 1819 (but taking place in a mythical medieval past), leaves little doubt that the 'Belle Dame' is underage. The societal view of what constitutes child molestation / statutory rape seems to have changed over time.

You can review the entire curriculum for our 'English Classics Survey Course' at "Edifying Nonsense" by clicking HERE.

 

July 2, 2022

JUL 2, American satire (prolongation): 'unhinged'









We hope that you enjoyed this verse. You can find 40 more on this topic in 6 collections on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE to start! 

July 1, 2022

JUL 1, Canadiana: Canadian weather




Authors' Note: 
hinterland: a geographic term for 'interior', derived from the German adverb hinder = 'behind'.

The author contends that the summary he received overemphasized the adverse climatic conditions faced by Canadians, the majority of whom live in the more temperate southern portions of the country.


mid-November in Toronto


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


June 30, 2022

JUN 30, singable satire: guest-parodist Al Silver croons about "WHOLE FOODS"


PARODY-LYRICS: GUEST-ARTIST
ORIGINAL SONG"Blue Moon1934,  Rodgers and Hart, covered by Billy Eckstine, Mel Torme, Frank Sinatra, The Marcels etc.
PARODY-LYRICS COMPOSED: Al Silver, January 2013, copied here with permission, and with a few minor changes. Al has been a frequent contributor to the AmIRight song-parody website.
You can view Al's delightful lyrics along with some commentary (without images or chords)  displayed on that website at AmIRight.com Post "Whole Foods"
Check out some of our previous posts, for other great parody-lyrics by Al Silver.


WHOLE FOODS

(to the tune of "Blue Moon")

Whole Foods
You saw me sickly and thin,
Without a blush on my cheek,
Without a glow to my skin.



Whole Foods
You knew you just had to heed me,
You saw the way you should lead me,
And had the health food to feed me.

And then I saw there was a cornucopia
Of all the nuts and grains I could consume
(I know I have to use the rhyme “Utopia”)
And when I ate, my cheek began to bloom.

Whole Foods
Now I’m not sickly and thin,
I've got a blush on my cheek,
I've got a glow to my skin.

I ate organic goat cheese and quinoa
Wheatberry, kale, nori, tofu, too
Some dingleberries shipped fresh from Samoa
And pomegranates flown in from Peru.

Whole Foods
My LDL is now 5,
Systolic down to a hundred.
I think I’m barely alive.

Whole Foods

My LDL is now 5;
I have a blush on my cheek
But I am barely alive.

A cornucopia


 

June 29, 2022

JUN 29, defining opinion: crepuscular





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 iLimerick Form). You can see all of these on one visit by clicking HERE.


June 27, 2022

JUN 27, pluralia tantum: 'eruptions' -- medical nomenclature




Authors' Note: Eruption is a venerable medical term for a skin rash, in use since an earlier era when practitioners paid careful attention to characteristic skin lesions and various symptoms, but knew little of disease causality such as viral infection and allergy. Traditional names for medical symptoms and diseases in general are often based on lay vernacular terms dating from a much earlier time. Shingles is also known as herpes zoster, the second term referring to the belt-like distribution of lesions.

Grandpa Greg asked us to pass on this message: "You can view the entire collection of verses about 'pluralia tantum' by clicking HERE."



June 26, 2022

Jun 26, duplication: hanky-panky




 Authors' Note:  Reduplications as they are best known, sometimes also called duplications, are language forms (morphs), usually for nouns, in which an element of the word is repeated with little or no change; they figure prominently among the most musical elements in English and in other languages. To this author, the more commonly used term seems redundant. Many other examples begin with the letter 'h', e.g. harum-scarum, helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledyhillbilly, and hubba-hubba.

Readers willing to go down an internet rabbit-hole HERE can easily get to a collection of more than a dozen other short verses in which we have dealt with specific reduplications, as well as three fairly lengthy patter-songs about this fascinating linguistic phenomenon. 

June 25, 2022

JUN 25, patients and their maladies: vitreous detachment










 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!