SEP 10, a brief saga (Italian loanwords): Gino's food intolerance

You can review our entire poetic outpouring about Italian loanwords by proceeding to a post on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'; click 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. Your blogging team has been presenting these concoctions at the rate of one per month, mixed in with the shorter poems, wordplay and other stuff that we offer. 

   

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

To access the most recent previous 'brief saga' (August 2020), back up to 'the Aegean cat'.  

SEP 9, sleek Greek prefixes: AUTO-

Authors' Note:

auto is a prefix derived from Greek and Latin meaning 'self' or 'same'.

A motto frequently represents a high standard of achievement claimed or aspired to by the person or institution.

We have a verse about 'Autophagia' that you might find intriguing (Click HERE.)

And, HERE's another that you'll probably find less intriguing, even gruesome.

Clicking HERE will introduce you to our entire collection of verses about the Greek prefixes!

SEP 8, classic palindrome: 'able ere Elba'

You might also enjoy another verse on this topic, in the collection "Reprehensible Modern History". Click HERE.

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'. 

SEP 7, Toronto oases, Scarborough bluffs (photocollages #1,2)

 

SEP 6, wordplay maps: new world palindromes (#35,#36)

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

 

SEP 5, Toronto ravines: Lawrence park

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If you are interested in wending your way through an encyclopedic collection of four blogposts stuffed with photo-collages on Toronto ravines, click HERE.
 

SEP 4, wordplay maps: American Scramble-towns 9,10

Who would ever have guessed? It turns out that an unparalleled word in generating anagrams (letter scrambles) is P-A-L-I-N-D-R-O-M-E-S. We have taken advantage of that property to create this unique series of wordplay maps of imaginary American (and Canadian) locales, each one completed by its official two-letter state (or provincial) abbreviation. 

 LINKS: 

Forward to U.S.A. map #11

Back to U.S.A. map #7

Let's skip all this stuff and get on to the Canadian version, eh? (stay tuned!)

SEP 3, exotic destination: Micronesia (archipelago)

Other verses about 'Exotic Travel Destinations' can be found on our blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE.

 

SEP 2, anagram swarm: A-VERY-STABLE-GENIUS, #19

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.

SEP 1, scopes of medicine: EGD (esophago-gastro-duodenoscopy)

Authors' Note:  

Central Booking: a hospital department that schedules equipment and personnel for time-dependent procedures

scope: short form for endoscopy, a procedure in which a tube containing a camera system is introduced for visualization of a body cavity via a natural body opening, or via a small incision

   Disorders of the upper gastrointestinal tract (especially lower esophagus, stomach, and uppermost bit of small bowel - duodenum) are common and usually symptomatic. EGD, allows visualization of the tract's inner lining or mucosa, and biopsy of suspicious areas. 

   Similar instrumentation is used in a spectrum of medical situations. Various specialties may employ the term ‘endoscopy’ or ‘scope’ to indicate their favorite procedure.  

You can view a collection of verses on this topic  by proceeding to 'Inner Enlightenment: The Scopes of Modern Medicine' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE !

AUG 30, patients and maladies: BPH (benign prostatic hypertrophy)

Authors' Notes: 

-trophy: a Greek suffix, as in hypertrophy, atrophy or dystrophy, derived from trophe (nourishment)

trophy: a decorated cup or other prize, from the Greek root tropaion, a rout or victory.

  The author has had first-hand experience of these unpleasant symptoms. In fact, despite the comment in the verse, having BPH does not eliminate the chance of also having cancer. Consult your physician; they will likely do tests to ensure that cancer is not also present.

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!

AUG 29, magical palindromes: 'A man, a plan (racy, carnal) -- Paris'

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.

 

AUG 28, wordplay maps: new world palindromes (#33,#34)

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

AUG 27, classic palindromes: 'Zeus sees Suez', plus various canal-pals

 

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'. Or, should you be interested primarily in the palindromes themselves, and less concerned about their poetical ramifications, you might want to check our series of reader-submitted palindromes, starting HERE. 

AUG 26, insects: gnat repellents

Authors' Note:  For several decades, there has been a prevalent belief that a particular bath oil product had the ancillary property of repelling attacks by swarms of gnats. However, objective testing by the American organization Consumers Union has debunked a special role for this product.  

You can review Giorgio's other verses about pesty and occasionally beneficial insects, as  collected in 'Buzzwords: Verses about Insects' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

AUG 25, waterfowl: laughing gulls

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'. 

AUG 24, American satire: miscellany of verses

 

:

We hope that you enjoyed these verses. You can find 30 more on this topic in 5 collections on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE to start! 

AUG 23, limerick variations: verses with embedded illustrations

Authors' Note: 

pic: informal abbreviation for 'picture’

   The author has the experience of posting on his blogs (as here) and on his Facebook profile, hundreds of his OEDILF limericks that are initially framed as Power-Point slides with embedded pictures (fabric art, paintings including portraits, cell-phone-camera and web-photos) and computer-generated graphics. If the illustrations are abundant, additional slides may be used for elucidation, and are a good vehicle for displaying the 'Author's Notes'. Poetic submissions that seem particularly appropriate for this type of enhancement include verses about biography, wildlife, tourist locations, food, visual arts and recreational activities.

    

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.  

AUG 22, Toronto ravines: lower Don, photocollages #1-3

If you are interested in wending your way through an encyclopedic collection of four blogposts stuffed with photo-collages on Toronto ravines, click HERE.

AUG 21, sleek Greek prefixes: APO-

Authors' Note:  Apollo in Greek mythology is the exquisitely handsome god of poetry, music, medicine and prophecy. 

Clicking HERE will introduce you to our entire collection of verses about the Greek prefixes!

AUG 20, singable satire: Tom Lehrer sings "ALLITERATIVE BINOMIALS, #2"

 PARODY SONG-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: "The Elements", Tom Lehrer, 1959.

Occasional binomials show alliteration
(e.g. one and only)

PARODY COMPOSED: Dr. G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio,  2015. This song is the third of nine in the series on Word Pairs. You can find the links to the lyrics of the previous songs at the bottom of the post. 

EXPLANATION: The current effort involves a linguistic device discussed by Wikipedia as “Siamese twins” or ‘Irreversible Binomials”. These 

phrases include some of the most colorful expressions in English. There are probably a thousand binomial expressions in the English language. To enhance the singability, I have skewed my selection of binomial pairs here, to emphasize those that have alliteration of the 2 elements. 

For discussion of binomials, see the recent post HERE; there is a also an earlier post that honors our previous exploration of these intriguing expressions, and is entitled "The Allure of Word-Pairs: Alliterative Binomials (compendium)".

UKULELE and GUITAR-FRIENDLY LINK: Our whole series of songs can be found in a friendly format for ukulele (and guitar)-players on our sister blog  "SILLY SONGS and SATIRE". Click HERE to proceed to this site. 

Dungeons and dragons, dark and dank, and dear departed, do or die, 

And cliques and clans,  and kith and kin, and bag and baggage, flee and

 fly,

Head over heels, and belle and beau, Beauty and Beast, and two for tea,

And mind and matter, mine and mill, and flew through flue, the fly and flea. 

There’s vim and vigor, pain or pleasure, fast and furious, slow but sure

And watching waiting, safe or sorry, walking wounded, kill or cure

And grins and giggles, hems and haws, and his and hers, guys gals or dolls

And quake and quiver, black and blue, right wrong, St. Peters and St. Paul's. 

There’s stress and strain, and short and stout, and scratch and save, and shirts and shorts

Shoes socks, and art and artifice, and toil and trouble, tarts and tortes

And read and write, bold beautiful, and beg or borrow, this-and-thats

Moon o'er Miami, baked and battered, where or when, and heads and hats.

There's prince and pauper, prim and proper, pots and pans, and put-upon 
And drunken and disorderly, warp woof, wrack ruin, and AlAnon.
The order of paired elements - important? yes, no, may-aybe;

Be careful not to throw out the bathwater with the ba-aby.

Yet, slip and slide, not hair nor hide, the definition gets defied, 
Like 'Prejudice' before the 'Pride', so 'side by side' is classified
With home sweet home, rose is a rose, eye for an eye, and nose to nose - 
These phrases pose the gap to close that spaces poetry from prose.


There's Jack and Jill, from dusk 'til dawn, bumper to bumper, inch by inch,
And first and foremost, hand in hand, with spice and sugar, just a pinch.
"What's right is right, what's fair is fair", said more and more by Mo-other,
From sea to shining sea, if it's not one thing, it's ano-other. 

And, for those interested, here's how you find the lyrics-only-version

of the nine songs that make up this cycle. If you would like to  accompany yourself on ukulele or guitar, find relevant chord charts by following the links that will take you to the versions in our blog "Silly Songs and Satire". 

1. PAIRS, to the tune of "Words" in the style of the Beegees

...  the following songs in the style of "The Elements" by Tom Lehrer

2. ALLITERATIVE BINOMIALS, part#1

3. ALLITERATIVE BINOMIALS, part#2

4. RHYMING BINOMIALS, part#1

5. RHYMING BINOMIALS, part#2

6. A LESSON ABOUT REDUPLICATIONS

7. REDUPLICATIONS, part#1

8. REDUPLICATIONS, part#2

9. LEGALISTIC DOUBLETS, in the style of "Supercalifragilistic..." from  the musical "Mary Poppins"

AUG 19, bottom line of medical humor: Beano

Authors' Note: 

cruciferae: vegetables in the cabbage family

Aspergillus: more fully, Aspergillus niger, the species of fungus from which chemists derive alpha-galactosidase, the principal active enzyme ingredient of flatulence-suppressants.  The concept of a supplement to suppress the discomfort and gas associated with eating vegetables such as beans and cabbage was presumably proposed by Benjamin Franklin in the 1780s. In 1981, Alan Kligerman initiated research that resulted in the development of the commercial enzymatic supplement Beano® , and a Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1991. 

  

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!

AUG 18, poets' corner: the philosophy of limericks

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

AUG 17, palinku (poetic novelty): veggies #1

 

    In this post, we are introducing a novel form of poetic wordplay, the details of which are displayed on the accompanying slide. 

  The name reflects its derivation from a European take on Japanese poetic concepts; most of us learned a smattering of haiku poetry in elementary school. But the format we are presenting today is strongly influenced by palindromes. This form of wordplay is a concoction that can be found in both English and Japanese, and has been the basis of study, wonderment and amusement by scholars and word-nerds. The very different structure of the two languages makes the incorporation of wordplay into poetry unique in each case. We were delighted to learn recently that palindromic sentences, known as kaibun are found relatively frequent in Japanese; the phenomenon is enhanced by the fact that there a fair number of single-word palindromes in the language.   

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

  

You can view all our "palinku" verses 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.)

AUG 16, trees: appletree (fabric art)

"Apple tree" (fabric art contributed by RCH)

You can find other examples of awesome illustrative fabric art on this blog in posts for the dates January 25, and March 19, 2020, and January 2, 2021.

  

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". 

AUG 15, commercial product: cellphones for lizards

 

Authors' Note:  The gecko, a non-threatening species of lizard imported accidentally into the United States (with range expanding in the last few decades), has entered the popular consciousness due to advertisements by GEICO (acronym for the Government Employees Insurance Co.) which feature a British-accented lizard, who gives advice on purchasing auto and other insurance.

   Voice-activated assistance (for humans) on Apple cellphones is provided by a persona known as ‘Siri’. As saurian is a synonym for reptilian, (and the suffix ‘-saur’ is well-known in regard to current and ancient lizard species), you won’t be surprised that we have developed an assistant named ‘Sauri’ for the high-tech gecko community. 

   

Our range of domestic and commercial products is somewhat limited, but you might want to review our unusual prospective gifts on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.