MAY 17, binomial phrases: "bump and grind"

 

Authors' Note: The above verse features a number of binomial expressions, most of which are in common use. The most striking binomial phrases are alliterative (like 'on and off') or rhyming (like "Tease and Please" and 'hot to trot'). As part of their catchy appeal, binomial phrases are often chosen as the names of restaurants, bars and small businesses, but the name proposed here for a strip-club is an original use.

  To help the reader to pick them out, the six contained binomial phrases, dancing across the lines are portrayed in italics and colored font.           

To review the poetic effusion that we have accumulated about binomial phrases, proceed to our blog "Edifying Nonsense", and check out the post  'Grandpa Greg's Grammar: Binomial Expressions'. Click HERE ! 

MAY 16, planet-saving verse: species loss

BTW, should you ever need to log in directly to this blog, its simple address is...

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Authors' Note: Scientists have determined that of all the species that have been present on our planet, more than 99% are now extinct. Many of the extant (current) species are under increasing pressure due to global warming, loss of habitat, and in some cases, exploitation and pollution.

You can help save the planet by viewing all our verses in this series at "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

Incidental photo: 

a great egret in low flight over a saltwater creek

MAY 15, pathos and poetry (gun control verse): massacre at Mother Emanuel Church

 You can review our entire poetic outpouring on this important topic by proceeding to a post on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'; click HERE.

MAY 14, waterfowl: action-photos from Swan Lake / Iris Gardens

Continuing from the posts of two days towards the end of April, after our wonderful outing to Sumter SC two weeks ago. 

mute swan, egg-laden, lumbering

whooper swan, in a flap

 

black swan, grabbing a snack

navigating the ponds

black swan, takeoff plan canceled

a posterior flap

a frontal flap

black swans in flight

swans, like this nesting mute couple,
 spend a lot of time preening themselves

You can review Giorgio's illustrated verses on this topic by proceeding to the post 'Immersible Verse: Limericks about Waterfowl' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Or, if you prefer, you can find most of this stuff in photo-albums on Giorgio's Facebook profile.

MAY 13, funny bones: contortionists

swan contortionists
observed by a colleague

a double-headed circus swan:-)

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! 

MAY 12, limerick for lovers of classic languages: Homo latinophonius

Authors' Note:

mus (MOOS): Latin for ‘mouse’

puer (POO-er): 'boy', a prototype Latin noun, often used in early lessons to introduce the topic of declension

faex: Latin for 'dreg', 'sediment' or 'deposit'

faeces: the more familiar plural form

The author has several decades of experience in attempting to get trainees who had never studied Latin to use Anglo-Latin words appropriately in medical reports. 

Presumably, Linnaeus' associates and protégés in 18th century Swedish academia were all well-versed in Latin.

To review all of our output on the topic of classic languages, go to our encyclopedic compendium, "Edifying Nonsense"; click HERE !

MAY 11, variant Nantucket limerick: the Canadian expat

 

You can review our whole collection of spoof verses based on the iconic Nantucket limericks on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense' by clicking HERE.

links for any date: scroll over to the calendar-based listings of 'Past Posts' in the righthand column on this page, choose your month of interest, and then select (by clicking) the post of your choice.

MAY 10, a brief singable saga: echoic binomials

PARODY-SONGLINK: These verses were originally conceived as poetic lyrics. However, they can, like almost all limericks, be easily sung using  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 ("Again and Again") on your favorite instrument.

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

 To review the poetic effusion that we have accumulated about binomial phrases, proceed to our blog "Edifying Nonsense", and enjoy the post  'Grandpa Greg's Grammar: Binomial Expressions'. 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 !

 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. 

Generally, OEDILF has not been enormously welcoming of multi-verse submissions, but Giorgio Coniglio has persisted, and the OEDILF number for each accepted multiverse poem is shown here on the slide with its first verse. We have been publishing these poetic adventures here monthly.

To access the next 'brief saga', proceed to 'anagram swarms'. 

To access the most recent previous 'brief saga', back up to 'Anglo-Latin and -Greek'

MAY 9, numbers: nine (9) ninety-nine

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

MAY 8, reprehensible modern history: submarine warfare #1

Charleston South Carolina played a major role in the development of submarine warfare. The Cold War Submarine Memorial is located at Patriot's Point in Mt. Pleasant SC, on the eastern side of Charleston harbor. 

At our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense', you can review our entire collection of panels about the history of submarine warfare, as well as the lyrics to the parody-song "Relic Submarines". Click HERE. 

View the entire collection of poetic assertions on this topic (currently small, but growing) at our more encyclopedic blog 'Edifying Nonsense', by clicking HERE.

MAY 7, diagnostic imaging: Fluorine-18 PET

 

You can review all our verses on this intriguing topic by proceeding to a post on 'Edifying Nonsense' entitled 'Selected Topics in Diagnostic Imaging'. Click HERE!

MAY 6, birdlore: dawn chorus

BTW, should you ever need to log in directly to this blog, its simple address is...

daily.edifyingnonsense.com

(Just type that into your browser search-line.)

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

MAY 5, mammalian wildlife: hippos (-otamuses vs -otami)

 The above is iambic verse; therefore it scans: 

'MOST of US to QUELL the FUSSes

PreSUME we're HIPpoPOtaMUSes'

HERE is a nonsense posting from last November that also features hippopotamuses; it has been written in more familiar anapestic (limerrhoidal) meter.

You could review the whole collection of illustrated verses about mammals (both domestic and exotic) by checking out the more extensive post on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE !

MAY 4, pluralia tantum: 'imply/infer' (life-cycle celebrations)

 

Authors' Note: Plurale tantum, meaning plural only, is a Latin-derived term (with plural form pluralia tantum), for a noun that has no, or only a minimally used singular form, e.g. alms, auspices, and dregs. There are over one hundred of these in English. In other languages, such forms are commonly used to refer to ceremonial time-points on life's journey, but in English we have only the relatively archaic terms banns, nuptials, obsequies and remains, also last rites and final respects. Bryce's attempt to help his audience is incorrect, as these peculiarly plural nouns generally are paired with a plural verb-form.

 We have discussed in other verses here the relationship of pluralia tantum to medical nomenclature, to cooking ingredients and to fields of study.

upscale nuptials

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

MAY 3, bar-fauna: ark's bar (on board with Noah)

 If you liked this submission, you might want to refer to our entire collection of verses about human and animal denizens of bars, pubs and other watering-holes. Click HERE.

Followup illustration:

"Two by Two", Alice Anthony
Quilt exhibited at 
N.Charleston Convention Center, March 2022. 

MAY 2, trees: ponytail palm

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". 

MAY 1, painterly poetry: 'decamp' (the birth of impressionism)

 

                                                       

Authors' Note:  The above story, dating from France in the 1860s, and relating to the birth of Impressionism, is apocryphal.

Check out our entire collection of illustrated verses on 'painterly poetry' as exhibited on the encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense" by clicking HERE. 

APR 30, reprehensible modern history: Crimean War

View the entire collection of poetic assertions on this topic ( at our more encyclopedic blog 'Edifying Nonsense', by clicking HERE.
 

APR 29, defining opinion: gluten sensitivity

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.

APR 28, French savoir-faire: pied-a-terre

   You can review verses on this topic in a wider context on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Check the post 'Vers Francais: Savoir-Faire' by clicking HERE. 

APR 27, planet-saving verse: clean coal

Authors' Note: In the polarized United States, the term denier, sometimes specified as science denier or climate-change denier, is taken to mean a person who denies either the existence or human causation of global warming.

Another discussion of clean coal can be found in an OEDILF verse by contributing editor Dr. Work:

We are led to believe that clean coal

Should be sought as a practical goal:

To store carbon dioxide

Deep under the dockside

Or pumped very deep down a hole.

You can help save the planet by viewing all our verses in this series at "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

APR 26, waterfowl: more tranquil views from Swan Lake / Iris Gardens

BTW, should you ever need to log in directly to this blog, its simple address is...

daily.edifyingnonsense.com

(Just type that into your browser search-line.)

cypress 'knees' abound at the edge of the swamp

black swan, approaching feeder

turtles particularly enjoy the sunny day

"take my advice"

black swan couple, female nesting

whooper swan, outstretched wings

"Y'all come back tomorrow for some more."

And, stay tuned for more reflective pictures tomorrow!

Here is a great website for concise information for identifying waterfowl, (with a British bent), including an expansive photo-gallery: 

https://www.military-airshows.co.uk/wildfowl/identification/identswan.htm