A blogsite offering entertaining daily oddities since January 2020. There are now over fifteen hundred posts in these four years. Images -- photographic, computer-simulated and poetic -- are drawn from daily life as well as from poems and wordplay grouped by topic on our parent blog "Edifying Nonsense". The poetry displayed is all original (as are the song-lyrics), although portions evolved through rigorous editing on a collaborative website.
November 12, 2022
NOV 12, objectionable adjectives: efficacious
November 11, 2022
NOV 11, death and the afterlife: memorial service
November 10, 2022
NOV 10, a brief saga: Leigh Mercer's palindrome workshop
This early workshop conducted by Mercer, during which the iconic canal palindrome is almost invented, is fictitious, but with the exception of the first, all the italicized phrases in the 'workshop' session are legitimate palindromes.
November 9, 2022
NOV 9, patients and their maladies: the hemorrhoid
Authors' Note:
pro tem: frequently used short form for the Latin 'pro tempore' -- for the time being, in the short term.
Readers might also enjoy a verse on the same topic presented in September 2021 in the collection "The Bottom Line of Medical Humor". Click HERE.
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!
November 8, 2022
NOV 8, urban concerns: school districts (glowingly)
Authors' Note: Real estate agents are masters at the psychology of selling of homes. They employ 'stylists' to 'stage' houses, first by decluttering, and then by adding grace notes to indicate the putatively carefree and desirable lifestyle of the owners. In this case, a Victorian-era home with an appallingly small outdoor space was staged to appear more attractive to families.
November 7, 2022
NOV 7, ecto-parasites: hog lice
Authors' Note: This agricultural pest, Haematopinus suis, commonly known as the hog louse, lives its life only on porcine hosts, with the larvae (nymphs) concentrating on the head region. Apparently, infestations of swine herds can be treated easily with avermectins, a class of veterinary antibiotics.
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 (and keep following along 'til you get to the section on ecto-parasites).
November 6, 2022
NOV 6, bar-fauna: Hamlet at the pub
If you liked this offering, 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.
November 5, 2022
NOV 5, defining opinion: hostility
November 4, 2022
NOV 4, mythed opportunities: Eos (Dawn's endless night)
November 3, 2022
NOV 3, American satire (prolongation): Espionage Act
This post is CLASSIFIED! (proper security clearance is required)
We hope that you enjoyed this verse. You can find 40 more on this topic in 6 collections on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE to start!
November 2, 2022
NOV 2, binomial phrases: "first and last"
Authors' Note: Binomial expressions combine two paired elements in a fixed order. Lists of these phrases show that when the two genders are in question, males almost always come first. This bias is shown in dozens of idioms such as boys and girls, lords and ladies, men and women, brother and sister, kings and queens, Jack and Jill, etc.
The few notable exceptions highlight a gender-constrained role for women, including belles and beaus, bride and groom, and moms and dads.
Gender-bias in language is also discussed in another verse by the authors. Click HERE.
To review our total collection of poetic effusion about binomial phrases proceed to our blog 'Edifying Nonsense', 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 !
November 1, 2022
NOV 1, palinku (poetic novelty): conformity and timidity
In this post, we will continue with a novel form of poetic wordplay. Inspired by Japanese haiku poetry, this new form is used for a terse verse with a total of 17 syllables displayed on three lines. Unlike its classic Japanese analogue, this concoction 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.
October 31, 2022
OCT 30, Toronto oases: Rouge national park
OCT 31, dental feelings: Hallowe'en Verse for a dentist friend (sugary treats)
You can review the entire collection of our illustrated verses on this topic by proceeding to the post 'Dental Feelings' on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.
October 29, 2022
OCT 29, classic palindrome: 'mix a maxim'
Authors' Note: It is unclear why Max finds the maxim more worthy of indulgence than the tenet; the latter, it is noted is a palindrome. And so are Egad! an adage, and Mix a maxim, delightful phrases that may be found in lists of classic palindromes.
You can review a collection of such illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Reversing Verse: Limericks About Classic Palindromes' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.
October 28, 2022
OCT 28, Toronto ravines: floating islands at the Brickworks WIP
October 27, 2022
OCT 27, objectionable adjectives: 'estival' and 'hibernal'
October 26, 2022
OCT 26, limerick variations: O'Malley's concept (C-rhyme extension)
October 25, 2022
OCT 25, mythed opportunities: Galatea (and Pygmalion)
The illustration is taken from a drawing by Gerome done in preparation for his iconic painting "Pygmalion and Galatea".
You can take advantage of the whole spectrum of illustrated poems dealing with 'Mythed Opportunities' that we have collected on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE!
October 24, 2022
OCT 24, patients and their maladies: brain symptoms post-trauma
October 23, 2022
OCT 23, STD-poetry: monkeypox
October 22, 2022
OCT 22, planet-saving verse: phosphate detergents
October 21, 2022
OCT 21, hellenophilia: Cretan gorges
October 20, 2022
OCT 20 (2022), singable satire: Tennessee Ernie Ford sings "The BALLAD of GIULIANI", part #2
PARODY SONG-LYRICS
ORIGINAL SONG: The Ballad of Davy Crockett , by Bruns and Blackburn, Walt Disney Studios 1954, anthem of the "Crockett craze". Several versions of the song were prominent on the Top Ten in 1955.
BACKGROUND INFO: Max Boot's opinion-editorial appeared in our local newspaper on May 8, 2018, under the heading "The long, disappointing fall of Rudy Giuliani". Here is the link to the particular newspaper column.
BALLAD of GIULIANI, part#2
Voice of those wild Trump Years!
Update provided by scribe Max Boot,
Who, May '18, wrote a blurb astute.
New York's refurbished image, he does impute
To Rudy's governance, which few dispute.
Rudy - "America's Mayor",
Praised by media seers.
Max says despite our guy's 'intemp'rate' style,
He granted folks' diversity a high profile.
Supported gays and newbies, and warn't hostile
To programs hailed by both sides o' the aisle.
Rudy Giuliani,
'Moderate' musketeer.
Our Rudy had his 'character flaws',
(Though he knew 'bout state and fed'ral laws)
His pride and vanity could give you pause;
His judgment could have a subordinate clause.
Rudy Giuliani,
Makin' some folks steer clear.
As Max recounted in terms quite blunt,
GOP stars*, the 'Trump test' confront.
They've 'sacrificed their principles', all have flunked -
The party's evolving to the 'National Front'.
Rudy, leading others,
Takin' a downward veer.
Rudy (here, Max is tearful)
His 'fall' is the most severe.
Max's take is that the Chief's defects,
Infect those who bow and genuflect.
Rudy, like the others, has 'failed the test':
He's the voice of an epoch we've learned to detest.
Rudy Giuliani! Voice of the insincere. x2.
October 19, 2022
OCT 19, Canadiana: seniors' hockey
October 18, 2022
OCT 18, reprehensible modern history: submarine warfare #3
October 17, 2022
OCT 17, defining opinion: holler
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.
October 16, 2022
OCT 16, Ontario nostalgia: bunkie
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.
October 15, 2022
OCT 15, Toronto ravines: mysterious lower East Don
If you are interested in wending your way through an encyclopedic collection of four blogposts stuffed with photo-collages on Toronto ravines, click HERE.
October 14, 2022
OCT 14, doctors and their practices: the dermatologist
October 13, 2022
OCT 13, numbers: baker's dozen, bark mitzvah (13)
October 12, 2022
OCT 12, pluralia tantum: the backwoods ('rural plurals')
Authors' Note:
Urals: The Ural Mountains, a discrete range running north and south, separates old Russian from more sparsely populated Siberia, and is considered as the boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia.
The above verses provide further examples of the grammatical phenomenon pluralia tantum. We have discussed in other verses here the relationship of pluralia tantum to medical nomenclature, to life-cycle celebrations, to cooking ingredients, and to fields of study.
Grandpa Greg asked us to pass on this message: "You can view the entire collection of verses about 'Pluralia Tantum' by clicking HERE."