FEB 9, old world palindromes #13 and #14

 You can view the entire collection of 'Old World Palindromes' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense";  start by clicking HERE. 

FEB 8, American satire: New year's greeting to Sen. Hawley

Authors' Note: U.S. Senator J. Hawley of Missouri played a major role in the constitutional events at the Washington Capitol on January 6, 2021, the day of the insurrection directed at the accession of joe Biden to the presidency. 

Read more here:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/great-damage-republicans-recoil-from-missouri-sen-hawley-1.5258425

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

FEB 7, at heart: heart block

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!

FEB 6, old world palindromes #11 and #12

 You can view the entire collection of 'Old World Palindromes' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense";  start by clicking HERE. 

FEB 5, death and the afterlife: last breath

 

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!

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

FEB 4, trees: George's apple-twigs

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to JMH, and all others whose birthday occurs today!

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.

Authors' Note: Our family pet for 14 years, George the Rabbit (Giorgio Coniglio in Italian) was an unpredictable and somewhat ornery soul. Talented and demanding (yes, he learned to do tricks), he did not care for traditional rabbit goodies like lettuce and carrots, but loved certain fruits including pears and apples. A small pile of apple twigs could keep him engaged for hours on end, and we were fortunate to have an apple tree growing near our back fence.

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".  

FEB 3, magical palindromes: 'Ma is as selfless as Dad'

 

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.

FEB 2, funny bones: fracture of scaphoid (carpal navicular)

Authors' Note:

AVN: medical initialism for avascular necrosis, lethal damage to bone tissue resulting from traumatic interruption of its blood supply; the scaphoid bone of the wrist is particularly susceptible. The human skeleton has two boat-shaped small bones, one each in the ankle (tarsal) and wrist (carpal) areas. The Latin-derived term navicular ('boat-like'), is applied to either bone, whereas its Greek-derived analogue scaphoid, particularly favored in recent decades, is applied only to the wrist bone. How did Eric know that it was his scaphoid that he had fractured? See the verse anatomical snuffbox.

 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!

FEB 1, wordplay map: r-i-c-anagrams #13 and #14

 

You can view the entire collection of 18 wordplay maps of 'R-E-P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N-S in Canada' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense" by clicking HERE.

JAN 31, waterfowl: John Audubon, birder

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'. You can learn a bit more about the anhinga, the bird featured in the cover illustration of "The Birds of America" by checking the post of January 25.

JAN 30, insects: the (cock)roach

Authors' Note: 

cucaracha: Spanish for cockroach, presumably giving rise in the early 17th century to the English name for the insect

cockroach: adjectival form for the common insect (of thousands of species, only four are characterized as pests; cockroachlike might also be used in appropriate instances)   In the 1830s, Victorians adopted the shortened form roach to avoid the sexual connotations of the insect's name.

      

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.

JAN 29, old world palindromes #9 and #10

JAN 28, etymology: 'horse'

For fans of etymology, we have three blogposts with collections of verses about word-origins such as the one above 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!

JAN 27, anagram swarm: 'ELECTION FRAUD' contest: other submissions, #2 and #3

Continuing from the posts of January 16, January 18, January 20, 

January 22, and January 24.

As we wrap up this topic, we note here a few submissions in the National Contest that were quite clever from a wordplay perspective, but not relevant to the topic at hand. These include ...

FLUORINE CADET; INTRODUCE FLEA; CAROTENE FLUID;

TUNDRA ICE-FLOE; FURNACE TOILED; FINE-CUT ORDEAL;

INCUR FLEET ADO; FERAL DOE TUNIC; FINE CORAL DUET;

ERUDITE FALCON; ADIEU TORN CLEF; FLORA INDUCTEE;

FEED LATINO CUR; COULDN'T FAERIE? FAINTER OLD CUE;

ELFIN EDUCATOR; ARTFUL CODEINE; DECENT FOUL AIR;

UNDO AFTER LICE; CIAO, TENDER FLU; FLORENCE AUDIT;

TRUE FAN, "LIE, DOC." ECO-LAIDEN TURF;

DO INFLATE CURE; TRIFLE ACNE DUO; RED ELF AUCTION;

CAT: DOUR FELINE; URL://DEFECATION; CAN'T FIELD EURO;

FIE, RUNTED COLA! RODENT-FLEA I.C.U.; FAUCI, DO RELENT.

(for entries themed more in keeping with the topic, see the post of January 20.)

JAN 26, wordplay maps: American Scramble-towns 13,14

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 #15

Back to U.S.A. map #11

Let's skip all this stuff and get on to the Canadian version, eh? 

JAN 25, birdlore: (American) robins

To learn more about the life-style issues of Fred the robin, along with his colleague Carl the cardinal, ("curtained verse: robin red-breast"),  check out this Blogpost. 

You can view an encyclopedic collection of illustrated poems on this topic by proceeding to the post 'Poems about BIRDLORE' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

JAN 24, American satire: freedom-from-Trump day

Authors' Note:  Here's a reprise from a post published in November, now illustrated with Barry Blitt's cartoon-cover for this week's New Yorker, (A Weight Lifted) ...

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

  

JAN 23, patients and their maladies: Mick's anosmia

Authors' Note:  Patients who have suffered a loss of sense of smell (anosmia) are known as anosmics. Rarely, this sensory disorder along with manifestations in other body functions can be attributed to a marked deficiency of dietary zinc. Whether zinc supplements can help with recovery in well-fed anosmics remains unresolved. The metallic element osmium, which has no known biologic role, is named for the stench emitted by its poisonous tetroxide derivative.

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 !

JAN 22, anagram swarm: 'ELECTION FRAUD' contest: other submissions, #1

 Continuing from previous posts

Here are a few other imaginative entries for the National Anagram Contest ...

FORNICATE DUEL;     ADORE FIT UNCLE;     RECITAL DONE - FU! 

ONE LURID FACET;    COULD IRAN FÊTE?    TOUCAN FIELDER;

FONDUE ARTICLE;     EDUCATE FOR NIL;     IN 'ACUTE' FOLDER;

A FECUND TOILER;    I.O.U. FACT LENDER;  DOCENT FAILURE;

ULTRA-FINE COED;   DETOUR IF CLEAN;      ENTICE FUR-LOAD; 

DO INFLATE CURE;   RE CUE, "DON'T FAIL!" OFTEN LURED C.I.A. 

JAN 21, classic palindrome: 'drawn onward'

Authors' Note: 

patsy: slang for 'sucker' or 'gullible person'

Dem: American short-form for 'Democrats', referring either generally to adherents of the political party, or to elected officials

Don: short-form for 'Donald'; a respectful term of address for a Spanish or Italian nobleman; a leader of the Italian Cosa Nostra

D.C.: District of Columbia, often used in casual references to the American capital city, Washington

   This poem was written just after the publically broadcast hearings of the Intelligence Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives in the first impeachment of Donald Trump in November, 2019.

   Are we not drawn onward to new era? also represents a classic palindrome.

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'. 

JAN 20 (2021), singable satire: Tom Lehrer sings "REDUPLICATIONS L to Z"

 

PARODY SONG-LYRICS

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

PARODY COMPOSED: Dr. G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio, 2015. This song is the eighth 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:

 For a discussion of reduplications on an earlier post on this blogsite, click here. The current post also honours our previous venture of Feb 15, 2017 entitled 'Abracadabra' to 'Zoom-zoom': possibly the world's largest compendium of reduplications'.  

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. 

Many of these words and phrases have fascinating stories of their origin and subsequent use; the hotlinks highlight those with instructive or amusing information available on the web.

There’s lazy Daisy, loosey-goosey, Ling Ling, and lickety-split

And lovey-dovey, legal eagle, mellow yellow, and nitwit

And muck-a-muck, and Mau Mau, mumbo-jumbo, Bony Moronie

And Mai Tai, mole hole, nitty-gritty, and phony-balo-oney.

There’s namby-pamby, no-no, ooey-gooey, okey-doke, ping pong

And pom-pom, palsy-walsy, pasty-faced, slap-happy, singalong
And pow-wow, pitter-patter, pooper-scooper, plain Jane, and pell-mell
And poo-poo (scat), pooh-pooh (reject), and pupu (snack);  how can you tell?

There's quick fix, quack-quack, razzle-dazzle, rail trail, ragtag, ring-aling

A mini-lesson found on the Internet

And  razzmattaz, and rumble-tumble, Roger dodger, and Sing Sing.

And ready Freddy, rollick-frolic, “fuddle-duddle” (P. Trudeau)

And roly-poly, rinky-dink and super-duper, or so-so.

There's shock jock, sure cure, snip-snap, sci-fi, smartcart, shipshape, and stun gun,

And silly billy, speed read, shilly-shally, squish-squash, stumblebum

And shady lady, seesaw, space race, Star Wars, snail mail, PigglyWig'

And tutti-frutti,  tittle-tattle, tiki, tip-top, thing'majig.

There's teeter-totter, tootsie-wootsie, teentsie-weentsie, and tee-tee

And tom-toms drumming, tartar, tum-tum, tattle-tale, uh-huh, TV
And tubby-wubby, willy-nilly, wishy-washy, woman’s womb

And walkie-talkie, wingding, yo-yo, yoo-hoo! zig-zag and zoom-zoom.

Ta-Dah !!!

JAN 19, commercial product: web-purchased firearms (Elmer Fudd)

Authors' Note: Shotgun-wielding hunter Elmer Fudd was the cartoon-world nemesis of the beloved character Bugs Bunny. Elmer was notable for his lisping speech, for his hatred of 'wascally wabbits', for his oversized weaponry, and fortunately for Bugs, for his rather poor eyesight and aim.

   Currently (2017), weapons can be legally web-purchased by residents of the US, without  prior background checks of the purchasers.  

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.

JAN 18, anagram swarm: 'ELECTION FRAUD' contest: honorable mention

Continuing from the posts of January 16 and January 18 ...

As you know, in the National Contest the Best Anagram was 

                                               FAILED RECOUNT

and the Runner-up was...     OUTLINED FARCE

Here are some other national entries worthy of attention...

                                                LO, INCUR DEFEAT

                                                OR FEED LUNATIC 

                                                NOTICED EARFUL

                                                LIAR OUTFENCED

                                                REINFECT ALOUD

                                                FUEL RIOT-DANCE

                                                UNALTERED FOCI

                                                ELUDE FRACTION

                                                LEFTIE CANDOUR

                                                ULCERATED INFO

                                                ROTUND LIE-FACE

                                                DUE LATIN FORCE

                                                RUINED FACT: Olé !  

                                                LUCIFER ATONED

                                                UNDO RELIEF ACT

                                                I.O.U. FACT-LENDER

                                                FIE ON A RED CULT!

                                                URAL DEFECTION                                                                                            UNCLAD RIOT-FEE 

                                                U.F.O. CREDENTIAL

                                                CURT FOE DENIAL

                                                ONCE-FED RITUAL

                                                FEAR NOT IL DUCE

                                                TO CRUDE FINALE

At the state level, there are quite a few additional  submissions worthy of honorable mention, attributed to the participating state, as shown on the accompanying map.

JAN 17, culinary verse: Cretan salad

 

Find the collection of illustrated poems dealing with these issues on the post 'Culinary Verse' on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE!

JAN 16, anagram swarm: 'ELECTION FRAUD' anagram contest: runners-up

Continuing from the post of January 16  ...

The national runner-up for best anagram is...

OUTLINED FARCE

Now to the runners-up for each participating state...

Read carefully. These concoctions are all different from the state 'Winners', which were posted 2 days ago!

And, have a safe week -- two-day countdown to Freedom-from-Trump Day.