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 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 (misc)

     

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 25, Submitted Palindromes: RANDOM PILE #5

 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. Their profiles are indicated 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", and continuing with other well-known phrases, such as "Dennis sinned". Otherwise, their contribution will be grouped in 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 all of this delightful entertainment 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. 

FEB 24, American satire (prolongation): gov by dopes (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, another 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 (misc)

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) birdie-pic (from last summer) 

blue jay

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.)

FEB 16, postal places, Canada: La Tuque, QC

Authors' Note:  QC is the official abbreviation for the Canadian province of Quebec, in which La Tuque, population 11,000, is situated beside the St-Maurice River, 170 km (105 miles) north of the Saint Lawrence. The town's iconically shaped low mountain, resulting in its name (Fr. tuque is a soft wool hat), was partly destroyed in construction of a hydro-electric installation 80 years ago.

In each of the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, administrative rearrangements resulted in a handful of "cities" and "regional municipalities" with extensive areas that had low population densities, contrary to the usual expectation for urban centres. In this regard La Tuque heads up the pack, its central town surrounded by a vast forested area of 28,000 km² giving it a population density of 0.4/km², compared to Montreal, QC, and Quebec City, QC, with densities of 2,700 and 1,600/km² respectively.

 At one swell foop, you can review all our postal poems about intriguing places in the USA and Canada, by proceeding to the encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE !

FEB 15, Submitted Palindromes: RANDOM PILE #4

  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. Their profiles are indicated 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", and continuing with other well-known phrases, such as "Dennis sinned". Otherwise, their contribution will be grouped in 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 all of this delightful entertainment 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. 

FEB 14r, holidays and celebrations: Valentine's day

a) reprise 

"The Kiss" by Auguste Rodin, marble, 1882
(photo by G.C. at Rodin Museum, Paris, 2019)

b) current scene: Valentine's Day Solicitation (the young lady's hand-made sign notifies rush-hour drivers on the adjacent bridge, "I love you".)

FEB 13r, classic palindrome -- 'never odd or even'

a) reprise from February, 2020

FEB 13, classic palindrome: 'never odd or even'

Authors' Note: 

odd or even: binary classification of whole real numbers, related to basic counting, as in the idiomatic ‘counting sheep’ remedy for insomnia

never odd or even: classic palindrome that seems to revel, perhaps excessively, in the profusion of numbers that cannot be classified by the above simple scheme

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'.

 b) current birdie-pic

house sparrow