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.
December 9, 2022
DEC 9, inspired by Ogden Nash: ultimate tribute
December 8, 2022
DEC 8, doctors and their practices: Doctors Without Borders
This verse is dedicated to Dr. M. G., an Irish-Canadian emergency physician, now serving as a hospital administrator in Yemen.
You can view these informative verses in a wider context by proceeding to the collection 'DOCTORS and their PRACTICES' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!
December 7, 2022
DEC 7, urban concerns: break of day
December 6, 2022
DEC 6, Ontario nostalgia: Paris (Ontario)
US college basketball update: Congratulations to Virginia Tech for becoming the the 2022 ACC conference champions, and consolations to Duke fans. We will stay tuned as the national NCAA tournament ('March Madness') gets underway.
Duke's long-reigning 'Coach K' (Mike Krzyzewski) is completing his brilliant career, and basketball fans from all over give him a major tip of the hat!
Other verses about 'Exotic Travel Destinations' can be found on our blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE.
December 5, 2022
DEC 5, insects: entomologists
Authors' Note: Fact-sheets dealing with related key information have been posted here by etymologists. These include short poems pertaining to insects that eat woollens, scavenge for food, destroy wood structures, prey on human blood and torment domestic pets.
December 4, 2022
DEC 4, pluralia tantum: 'moronics' -- unusual 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."
December 3, 2022
DEC 3, binomial phrases: "publish or perish"
Authors' Note: The above treatise was assisted by a grant from the Foundation for Classic Binomial Expressions, under which permission was obtained for the use of song and dance, ants in one's pants, and publish or perish. (Other paired expressions, cheer and cherish, and funding and grants, are under development).
To review our 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 !
December 2, 2022
DEC 2, organic brain poetry: chronic subdural hematoma
Authors' Note: A chronic subdural hematoma is a space-occupying intracranial lesion resulting from the body's failure to resorb blood that collected between the dural membrane and the brain parenchyma, usually caused by . Whereas an initial expanding clot presents as a neurosurgical emergency, smaller clots, with a tendency to absorb fluid and expand gradually, may be later suggested only by chronic neuropsychiatric symptoms. In jargon used in actual medical settings and in televised fictional series, the term for the lesion responsible may be shortened to subdural.
December 1, 2022
DEC 1, American satire (prolongation): archival
November 30, 2022
NOV 30, reprehensible modern history (1800+): Emperor of Elba
November 29, 2022
NOV 29, planet-saving verse: fur-farming
November 28, 2022
NOV 28, French savoir-faire: savoir-faire
Authors' Note: The present participle (participe présent) is used much less commonly in French than in English; the good news is that this form is regular for all but three verbs (to know, to have, to be). In contrast, infinitives are used more often, so 'knowing and doing' is described by savoir-faire.
November 27, 2022
NOV 27, organic brain poetry: high-dose steroids
Authors' Note: A course of high-dose synthetic corticosteroids, e.g. dexamethasone, may be used to help bring under control a severe exacerbation of a chronic illness, e.g. asthma, inflammatory diseases, or an initial presentation, e.g. anaphylaxis, septic shock or brain swelling. Owing to the common side-effect of drug-induced euphoria/mania and other psychiatric issues, doctors attempt to taper the high doses as soon as possible.
You can view and review all our verses on the topic of 'Organic Brain Poetry' by following this link to the encyclopedic collection on "Edifying Nonsense."
November 26, 2022
NOV 26, poetic non-sequitur: changes in latitude
Authors' Note: The 1977 album Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett contained a song of the same title, as well as his most popular hit "Margaritaville".
November 25, 2022
NOV 25, pluralia tantum: 'high hopes'
November 24, 2022
NOV 24, reptiles: skink-busting
November 23, 2022
NOV 23, doctors and their practices: diabetologist
Glycated hemoglobin (hemoglobin A1C), reflects a chemical influence of ambient glucose levels in blood. This simple but subtle alteration of hemoglobin carried by the blood's red cells was discovered in 1958. As the average lifespan of red cells in the blood is three to four months, the biochemical test of blood levels yields a number that reflects blood sugar control over the previous few months. Generally, as your diabetologist will explain, a value less than 7% has been found to reflect good control.
November 22, 2022
NOV 22, (re)duplication: higgledy-piggledy
November 21, 2022
NOV 21, American satire (prolongation): legal precedence
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 20, 2022
NOV 20 (2022), singable satire: Johnny Cash sings "VLAD PUTIN'S BLOGGER"
PARODY SONG-LYRICS
"Among the 34 people, many of them were bloggers from Moscow or people who had nothing to do with me, had nothing to do with what they were talking about or there were people who got caught telling stories or lying … I think it's a terrible thing (that has) happened to this country, because this investigation is a witch hunt."
VLAD PUTIN'S BLOGGER
(to the tune of "The Frozen Logger")
When time is right to dominate, we’ll start our world-wide coups.
November 19, 2022
NOV 19, Italian loanwords: ghetto
gondola (plural - gondole): the stereotypic Venetian small boat, poled down the Venetian canals; gondole-ly is a personal, incorrectly-stressed Anglo-Italian neologism
imperfetto: Italian for 'imperfect' or 'flawed'
November 18, 2022
NOV 18, classic palindromes: 'Ida's denial'
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'.
November 17, 2022
NOV 17, Canadiana: Canadian weather
The author contends that the summary he received overemphasized the adverse climatic conditions faced by Canadians, the majority of whom live in the more temperate southern portions of the country.
mid-November in Toronto |
November 16, 2022
NOV 16, scopes of modern medicine: bronc(h)oscopy
The unrelated term honcho ("group leader", or "boss") is of Japanese derivation.
November 15, 2022
NOV 15, signs of confusion: first collection
half-way between the Battery and the beach |
This post is the first in a series of 5. You can attempt to get all of this straight by reviewing the collections in these subsequent posts ...
signs of confusion #3signs of confusion #4
November 14, 2022
NOV 14, higher connections: gnostic
November 13, 2022
NOV 13, patients and their maladies: amblyopia
Amblyopia includes a number of conditions in which the single affected eye provides less useful information to the brain, resulting in suppression of that information in comparison to that from the more normal eye. Double vision or strabismus (crossed-eyes) from weakened eye muscles on the one side is a common cause. When strabismus is relatively minor, the persistence of two discordant images under certain conditions with resulting double vision, may be disconcerting to the adult patient. Reduced lighting, head position and fatigue may enhance the problem, but corrective prismatic lenses may help in reachieving integrated binocular vision.
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.