MAR 15, special events: percussion quartet

 The torQ Percussion Quartet at the Art Gallery of Ontario:

MAR 14, homophonous verse: a toast to French homophones

 You can review verses on this topic in a wider context on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Check the posts 'Savoir-Faire' by clicking HERE, and 'Homophonous Verse' by clicking HERE. 

MAR 13, at heart: torsade de pointes

Authors' Note: 

Torsade de pointes (tor-sad duh PWAnT), is an Anglo-French medical term for twisting of the peaks, named in 1966 by its French cardiologist discoverer. It is a pattern seen on the ECG (electrocardiogram), with 'twisting' or cycling of the height of the ventricular 'QRS' complexes, and is often associated with factors, inherited or acquired, that widen the 'Q-T' interval on the tracing. This pattern is associated with nasty ventricular arrhythmias and sudden death. If you are lucky, you have survived the initial episode and have correctable factors (e.g. electrolyte disorders, certain pharmaceuticals, etc.)

Flying straight is a casual metaphor associated with performing expected or routine function.

You can view more poems on this topic by proceeding to "Cardiologic Tracings: AT HEART" (parts #1 and #2) on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE! 

MAR 12, portraits of couples: chickens

 

You can view all of our folio-photos from the collection of 'Couples' portraits in a wider context on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE. 

MAR 11, curtained verse: robin red-breast

 EDITORS' WARNING: You must be at least 12 years of age to read this post!

You can review other mildly scurrilous illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Curtained verse: Faintly Obscene (Selected) Limericks' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.

MAR 10, a brief saga (exemplification): possessive adjectives and pronouns

PARODY-SONGLINK: These verses were originally conceived as poetic lyrics. However, they can, like almost all limericks, be easily sung to  certain well-known tunes.  For this effort, we have used as the base song Carole King's "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", and changed the title of our song to something more catchy.

  Click HERE to access ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany the song  on your favorite instrument.

But, if you are interested only in the lyrics, continue with the presentation that follows ...  

  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 in Limerick 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. 

 There are now over 40 of these lengthier bits of doggerel featured at OEDILF in Giorgio's "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 since January 2020.

To access the next 'brief saga' on this blog (April 2023), proceed to 'Dodecanese Islands'. 

To access the most recent previous 'brief saga' (February 2023), back up to Newfoundland 'Potato Famine'.

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

2020
2021
2022
2023.

 

MAR 9, medical testing: introduction to the handbook

  a) Reprise of material posted on March 16 in previous years ...

2020: curtained verse, medieval challenge (illustrated poem)
2021: dental feelings, root canals (illustrated poem) 

2022: hellenophilia, tipping on Santorini (illustrated poem)
2023: handyman's lesson, restoring your old greenhouse A (photo-collage)

To access the details of any item in slide format, type its title, as displayed above in red font (e.g. ... medieval challenge), into one of the two search bars at the the top of your blog-page. Underneath the slide(s) for each entertaining delight that you discover, you will find a clickable link that lets you easily explore a more widespread collection of wonderments (verse, photos, wordplay, song-lyrics etc.) on the topic of your choice. 

b) Today's Offering (Mar 16, 2024): 

 

You can review a collection of related poems about clinical trials and clinical statistics by advancing to the blog "Edifying Nonsense" where you can find "A Limerick-Based Handbook on Medical Testing". Click HERE.  

MAR 8, patients and their maladies: gynophobia and gamophobia

A related verse dealing with "gamophobia" has recently become available..

 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!

MAR 7, urban concerns: in the distance

view on a foggy day

Authors' Note: 

Frequently, to increase the musical quality of the modifier, distant and distantly are rendered in song-lyrics and poetry as in the distance, or at a distance.

Another rather weird view of the city setting, highlighted in a short poem can be found HERE.

Our collection of illustrated poems about "Urban Concerns" on our parent blog "Edifying Nonsense", contains a number of intriguing verses that you can access by clicking HERE.

MAR 6, exemplification: fauna

 To review our whole collection of "exemplary exemplifications", click HERE. 

MAR 5, Canadiana: prairie home

Authors' Note: In its evolution from poem to unofficial anthem, the iconic American song "Home on the Range" was known, for a time, as "Western Home". The lyrics evoke the wilderness surrounding settlements on the "High Plains" in the old west, but do not mention the construction techniques for homebuilding. With little timber available to build cabins in some areas, thick prairie grass could be used as a covering for dwellings, even allowing the cutting of standard door and window openings.

   In Canada, the geographically similar area bordering the American plains has been known almost exclusively as the Prairies. The author imagines that living in a sod hut ('soddy') on either side of the border would be a more inviting prospect for settlers once the herds of buffalo had been thinned out by overhunting (an environmental desecration that occurred in the latter part of the nineteenth century).

For further reading; 

1)https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sod-houses  

2)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_on_the_Range

3)readers interested in understanding the human-buffalo interaction in modern times might also enjoy our further posts "Mammalian Wildlife: Buffalo", and "Selfie with Bison".

Alberta, 1908
web-photo, Glenbow Archives

WANT TO SING THESE LYRICS? WE CAN HELP!

If you have an undeniable urge to sing these lyrics, we have the tools to help. Grab your guitar or ukulele, remember the tune used for the verse of "Home on the Range"as sung by Gene Autry on YouTube HERE, and then follow the bouncing ball! 

Prairie Home    (uke-chords: E9 = 1222; A9 = 0102);

verse:

I'll e[D]rect us a [D7]home on a [G]large grassy [Gm]plot;

Only [D]building tools: [E9]shovels I [A7]bought.

With tech[D]nique skilled or [D7]shoddy,

The [G]hut called a [Gm]soddy

Has got [D]used on the [A9]Prairies a [D]lot.

Safe to [D]roam there, with [A7]bison herds [D]shot.

(optional chorus):

[D]Home on a [G]large Prairie [D]plot;

Walked ten [E9]miles for the groceries I [A7]bought.

Where [D]seldom is [D7]heard

A dis[G]couraging [Gm]word --

Sit a[D]round nights, swat [A7]bugs and smoke [D]pot.

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

MAR 4, magical canal palindromes -- Pisa

 

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.

MAR 3, signs of confusion: fourth collection

This post is the fourth in a series of 5. You can attempt to get all of this straight by reviewing the collections in the previous posts ...

signs of confusion #3
signs of confusion #2
signs of confusion #1

This post has been the fourth in a series of 5. If you have been having fun, you could soldier on and get all of this straight ...

signs of confusion #5

MAR 2, duplication: holus-bolus

 

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".

MAR 1, Ontario nostalgia: across the Great Lakes

Authors' Note: The southern flank of the Canadian province of Ontario, abutting the border with the United States is a watery region comprised primarily of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. The names of these lakes, and their order of progression to the Atlantic Ocean, are frequently covered in school curricula.

   Apart from flying, coming by ferry is the mode of access to the island province of Newfoundland for citizens of either Canada or the United States. The Confederation Bridge, 13 km in length, linking New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, has replaced ferry traffic to our smallest province since 1996.

   Tourism in most parts of Canada is highly dependent on Americans driving across the border. The industry has suffered a major depression in 2020 owing to restrictions related to the pandemic.

 

You can review the entire series of illustrated poems about  the good old days in Ontario by checking the post 'Ontario Nostalgia' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE. 

FEB 28c, singable satire (guest-lyricist Al Silver): "LET"S DO IT" (spoof of Cole Porter's original)

 PARODY-LYRICS: GUEST-ARTIST

ORIGINAL SONG: "Let's Do It" 1928, Cole Porter 

PARODY-LYRICS COMPOSED: Al Silver, 2013, used here with permission. Al had 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 "Let's Do It"

Check out our post on "Whole Foods" for another great parody by Al Silver.

Irene Bordoni,
 French chanteuse
star of Porter's musical
 "Paris", 1929

LET'S DO IT 

(to the tune of "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love")

Birds do it, bees do it; White House interns on their knees do it;

Let's do it, let's fall in love.

On grocery shelves Keebler elves do it; clergy praying by themselves do it;

Let's do it, let's fall in love

Insects in flight late at night do it, but they raise such a din.

Leno can't quite do it, 'cause he uses his chin.

Siegfried and Roy, boy on boy, do it; Quakers, with a minimum of joy, do it; 

Let's do it, let's fall in love. 

Bums do it, champs do it; in a circuit volts and amps do it;

Let's do it, let's fall in love.

Saddam Hussein, giving pain, did it; Mister Clinton down the drain did it;

Let's do it, let's fall in love. 
Old Errol Flynn, Rin Tin Tin do it, though they're both six feet deep. 
Shepherds give in to it with a sensuous sheep. 
It feels so fine, folks online do it. Missionaries, only when supine, do it;
Let's do it, let's fall in love.

Hindus, reborn, do it; Gunga, clutching at a horn, blew it. 
Let's do it, let's fall in love. 
By golly, Bengalis all do it; tourists in the Taj Mahal do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love.

When time allows, sacred cows do it with a rapturous moo;

Jungle boys now do it, thanks to Mister Sabu.

While in Bombay, by the way, do it; if it's not untouchable, you may screw it 

Let's do it, let's fall in love. 

Cobras, with charm, do it; beggars laying down their alms do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love.
The holy caste, while they fast, do it; Gandhi to the last did eschew it.
Let's do it, let's fall in love.

Nehru (he's dead), it is said, did it, but here's something of note:
He'd go to bed fitted in eponymous coat.
And just for kicks turbaned Sikhs do it; population experts all say nix to it.
Let's do it, let's fall in love.

FEB 28b, American satire (prolongation): grift

 

"Pardon me. When is the next available tee-off time? And by the way, would you like to purchase online a mugshot enhanced souvenir?"  

Astute readers will have noticed that this extended verse, with seven lines, fulfils the criteria for being an "external limerrhoid". Click HERE to enjoy a post that explains and exemplifies this intriguing poetic variant. 

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

FEB 28, urban concerns: elevator reluctance

Authors' Note: 

groundling: the author's nickname for people who live on the ground floor, such as, up 'til now, his immediate family members

lift: Canadians, like their American neighbours, usually term this device an 'elevator'; to fit the tight space here, we borrowed the British synonym; however, it is noted that we retained our customary spelling of story (rather than the British storey)

helluva: common undefined slang that has been used in 40 verses on OEDILF to date (2023); presumably a distortion of hell of a ...

Another true personal story, apart from taking liberties with the floor numbers. The author currently inhabits a rental unit across the building from the suite being gloriously renovated/demolished by 'Carl the contractor'. This situation accords with advice by a relative to 'try out the lifestyle change' to ease the transition from house to 'bungalow in the sky'.

 

FEB 27, classic palindrome: 'T. Eliot's toilet'

You can review more illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Reversing Verse: Limericks About Classic Palindromes' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. 

FEB 26, handyman's lesson: restoring your old greenhouse, introduction

You can watch for further lessons in the restoration process on April 20.

A NOTE FOR (potentially) DISAPPOINTED READERS !!!

Athough the Palm Court has been closed for renovations, portions of the Conservatory facility remain open, If you can't manage to come by for a look yourself, you can still take in the joys of a visit by clicking HERE.