There’s an idiom many despise.
Some believe it’s a prelude to lies.
Those who use it to sound
Smart and lofty abound.
At the end of the day, it’s unwise.
Archive for the ‘Language Humor’ Category
End This Idiom! (Limerick)
Wednesday, August 25th, 2021Boning Up On Homonyms (Limerick)
Sunday, August 15th, 2021Once I discovered that “humorous” has a homonym,” I vowed to use the two words in a limerick. And that’s harder than it sounds, because (for those unfamiliar with the stringent rules of limerick writing) words that are identical in sound do NOT rhyme.
When her humerus needed repairing,
The expense nearly made her start swearing.
But her problems, though numerous,
Struck her as humorous,
So she giggled, instead of despairing.
The Last Word In Limericks?
Saturday, August 14th, 2021Believe it or not, when I started writing this, I wasn’t thinking about the person you all think I was thinking about. (I was just trying to use my line 5 idiom in a limerick.)
I wondered why people deferred
To a fellow who’s coarse and absurd.
Well I’ve fin’ly learned why
They fawn over the guy:
He’s rich; hence he gets the last word.
Redundant Limerick
Saturday, August 14th, 2021Redundancy’s dull and dismaying,
And my patience for nonsense is fraying,
So I tend to turn red
At things best left unsaid,
Such as statements that “go without saying.”
Riffing On Rifle And Riffle (Limerick)
Thursday, August 12th, 2021At times, I’m disturbed by a piffle,
Like just now, when I started to sniffle,
On belatedly learning
This factoid, concerning:
The verb “rifle” is diff’rent from “riffle.”
(Here’s a good explanation of the differences between “rifle” and “riffle.”)
Out On A Limb (Limerick)
Tuesday, August 10th, 2021Once again, I was out on a limb.
I had climbed up a tree on a whim.
(A literal beech;
Not a figure of speech.)
Was safety in reach? Chances slim.
(Note: Even back when I was young, spry, and had good, functioning knee joints, I never climbed trees.)
On The Ropes (Limerick)
Monday, August 9th, 2021Sometimes, when my limerick inspiration is “on the ropes,” I’ll start with a random idiom. (In this case, my initial first line involved a “clothing boutique.” But when I thought of the last line, I changed the type of store for obvious reasons.)
With her laundromat shop on the ropes,
She was suff’ring a case of the mopes.
How she yearned to earn more!
And the plight of her store
Had reduced her to watching the soaps.
Why I Love The French (Limerick)
Sunday, July 25th, 2021Want a gibe that sounds charming? Don’t fret!
French phrases can help you — no sweat!
If the java tastes vile,
Simply bitch with a smile:
“This coffee is ‘jus de chaussette.'”
(I was amused to learn that the literal translation of “jus de chaussette” is “sock juice.”)
Limerick-Off Monday – Rhyme Word: KEY at the end of any one line (Submission Deadline: August 7, 2021)
Saturday, July 24th, 2021It’s Limerick-Off time, once again. And that means I write a limerick, and you write your own, using the same rhyme word. Then you post your limerick(s) as a comment to this post and, if you’re a Facebook user, on Facebook too.
I hope you’ll join me in writing limericks using KEY at the end of any one line. (Homonyms or homophones are fine.)
The best submission will be crowned Limerick-Off Award Winner. (Here’s last week’s Limerick-Off Award Winner.)
Additionally, you may write themed limericks related to WRITING STYLES, using any rhyme word. And of course I’ll present an extra award — one for the best WRITING STYLES-related limerick.
How will your poems be judged? By meter, rhyme, cleverness, and humor. (If you’re feeling a bit fuzzy about limerick writing rules, here’s my How To Write A Limerick article.)
I’ll announce the winners on August 8, 2021, right before I post the next Limerick-Off. So that gives you two full weeks to submit your clever, polished verse. Your submission deadline is Saturday, August 7, 2021 at 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time.)
Here’s my KEY-rhyme limerick, inspired by “Do-Re-Mi” from “The Sound Of Music”:
To remember the scale, here’s the key:
Think of does, golden sun rays, and me.
Try scampering fah
And sewing — VoiLA!
Then return to those does after tea.
And here’s my WRITING STYLES-themed limerick:
To people who try to seem bright
Via recondite words, you’re a blight.
It’s pretentious to wax
Lexiphanic. I’d tax
Ev’ry fancified phrase that you write.
Please feel free to enter my Limerick-Off by posting your limerick(s) in my comments. And if you’re on Facebook, I hope you’ll join my friends in that same activity on my Facebook Limerick-Off post.
To receive an email alert whenever I post a new Limerick-Off, please email Madkane@MadKane.com Subject: MadKane’s Newsletter. Thanks!
Stentorian Limerick
Tuesday, July 20th, 2021Imagine I’m reading this limerick LOUDLY:
Hearing speakers with voices stentorian
Is something that folks seem to glory in.
Be they actors or preachers,
Pols, lawyers, or teachers,
They’re lauded. Ask any historian.
Fun With Slang (Limerick)
Friday, July 16th, 2021At my age (seven-one) men don’t greet me
With catcalls or words that entreat me
To do something “wack.”
And I’m never called “snack.”
If I were, my response would be “Eat me!”
Save “Breedbate” From Obsolescence (Limerick)
Thursday, July 15th, 2021Here’s my plea to “Save ‘Breedbate’ From Obsolescence.”
I’m wond’ring why “breedbate’s” deemed dated.
Such a fate should at least be debated.
For the net’s filled with folks
Who start fights; breedbate-blokes
With egos that should be deflated.
The Pushy Chef (Limerick)
Wednesday, June 9th, 2021Recently, I’ve been playing around with new-to-me words. And that’s how I ended up writing a limerick using “bumptious” (self-assertive to an irritating degree) and “gumptious” (enterprising and industrious.)
(I was actually familiar with “gumption,” but for some reason didn’t connect it with “gumptious.”)
“I insist that you eat this. It’s scrumptious,”
Said a chef who was gumptious and bumptious.
“You must do it right now!”
“Sir do NOT have a cow,
And kindly stop being presumpt’ous.”
What’ll We Do About Guttling? (Limerick)
Monday, June 7th, 2021I couldn’t resist using the new-to-me word “guttle” in a limerick. (It means “to eat or drink greedily and noisily.”)
Said a gal to her husband, “You guttle!”
She entreated him, “Try to be subtle
When drinking and chewing.
It’s rude what you’re doing!”
“Well at least I don’t fart!” — his rebuttal.
Quash v. Squash (Limerick)
Saturday, June 5th, 2021As a retired lawyer, I move to quash the idea that “quash” is endangered:
Some fear that the verb known as “quash”
Has of late been supplanted by “squash.”
But lawyers still use it.
(Some even abuse it.)
In courtrooms “quash” still has panache.
(I wrote this in response to a discussion in the “A Way With Words” Facebook group about whether “squash” had largely replaced the word “quash.”)
Babbling About Brabbling (Limerick)
Wednesday, May 26th, 2021Whether online or off, I hate brabbling;
Petty arguments, overwrought babbling.
But the worst verbal brawl —
The most irksome of all —
Tends to stem from political dabbling.
Judge “Mental” About Limericks
Friday, May 21st, 2021In the off chance that anyone cares what I look for when judging my Limerick-Off contests:
My favorite lim’ricks are clean.
(Though I’m fine if a smart lim’s obscene.)
Be it up or dystopic,
No matter the topic,
Wit and wordplay can light up my screen.
Parnassian Passion (Limerick)
Sunday, April 25th, 2021Why am I first learning the word “Parnassian?” Oh well … better late than never.
I felt like a dolt and turned ashen
On belatedly learning “Parnassian”
Can mean poem-related.
My ego’s deflated…
But I’ll keep penning lim’ricks with passion.
Bamboozled By My Brain (Limerick)
Sunday, March 21st, 2021In the course of my constant perusal
Of email, I learned a word: “foozle.”
Though I’ve read it means “bungle,”
My mind is a jungle.
So recall it long-term? Brain refusal!
*********
NOTE: No doubt limerick experts are tempted to tell me that Foozle and Refusal don’t rhyme because Refusal has an F at the beginning of the 2nd syllable. However, I’d argue that Refusal is pronounced like “Re fyou sal” or “Ref you sal” and therefore sounds different enough to be a rhyme.
