Archive for the ‘Language Humor’ Category

What I Won’t Call Donald Trump (Limerick)

Tuesday, July 9th, 2019

I’m often inclined to admonish
The Donald; his actions astonish.
Trump’s the King of “Fake News,”
But I’d never accuse
Him of being the slightest bit “donnish.”

Thanks to Dictionary.com’s Word of the Day feature, I now know that “donnish” means bookish and pedantic.

Limerick Ode To Newt “J’accuse” Gingrich

Friday, January 13th, 2012

Mitt Romney is fluent in French. Finally, something to like about him!

But not so fast! According to a Newt Gingrich ad, French fluency’s a non-non:

Limerick Ode To Newt “J’accuse” Gingrich
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Here’s a message from Newt’s latest ad:
Mitt Romney speaks French and that’s bad.
What an odd thing to knock:
Mitt sounds like a Jacques,
And bilingual is suspect. How sad!

Oddly enough, there’s ample evidence that Newt Gingrich pouvait comprendre cette phrase.

Limerick Ode To Newt “The Thinker” Gingrich

Friday, December 2nd, 2011

New York Magazine’s Dana Amira has the numerical dirt on something that’s annoyed me for decades: Newt Gingrich’s over-use of pretentious words like profoundly, deeply, frankly, and fundamentally.

Limerick Ode To Newt “The Thinker” Gingrich
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Frankly speaking, Newt likes to amass
Pompous adverbs to give himself class.
He feigns gravitas soundly
With deeply, profoundly.
Fundamentally, Newt is an ass.

Limerick Ode To Mark Halperin

Thursday, June 30th, 2011

By now you surely know that MSNBC has suspended its senior political analyst Mark Halperin for calling President Obama “a dick” on Joe Scarborough’s Morning Joe. (Halperin, who is also an editor-at large for Time) usually does a better job of hiding his pro-Republican bias.)

Limerick Ode To Mark Halperin
By Madeleine Begun Kane

I always suspected that Mark
Had a bias unspeakably stark.
Well he gave it away
In a dickish display.
With his epithet, Mark jumped the shark.

Refudiating Sarah

Monday, July 19th, 2010

I usually ignore Sarah Palin’s language-mangling. But her “refudiate” the “Ground Zero Mosque” Twitter “tweet” is too priceless not to comment on:

Refudiating Sarah (Limerick)
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Dear Sarah, it’s time to rebootiate
And to malapropism “refudiate.”
Cuz your incorrect usage
Is language abusage.
Either learn to speak English, or mutiate.

Update: This is too funny: Sarah Palin excuses her malapropisms and accidental word coinages by comparing herself to William Shakespeare.

Update 2: Good news! Shakespeare Refudiates Sarah Palin.

Kick-Ass Limerick

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

The language police are at it again. Republicans and Fox News (sorry to be redundant) are simply horrified at President Obama’s “unpresidential” language.

What are they so pretend-upset about? Obama used the word ass in response to Matt Lauer’s oil crisis question about kicking butt.

Apparently this is extremely shocking to the same folks who had no problem with f**ks from Bush, Cheney, and McCain.

That brings me to my latest limerick:

Kick-Ass Limerick
By Madeleine Begun Kane

The Republicans’ delicate ears
Are offended by ass, it appears.
F**k is fine from McCain,
Bush, and Cheney — that’s plain.
But ass from Barack begets jeers.

“Deem and Pass” Ditty

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

The House has apparently ditched the “deem and pass” health reform voting mechanism. Instead, it will hold separate up-or-down votes on the Senate health care bill and on the changes to that bill. While various explanations have been given, my limerick explains the real reason “deem and pass” plans have been abandoned:

“Deem and Pass” Ditty
By Madeleine Begun Kane

So “deem and pass” will not be used.
Not surprised — I was rather bemused:
To me, it was seemin’
It sounded like “demon.”
Of framing faux pas the phrase oozed.

Gosh-Darn Pols!

Monday, March 1st, 2010

I haven’t lived in California since I graduated from Cal Arts a zillion years ago. And when I read stories like this one about the California Assembly’s silly anti-cursing bill, I’m in no rush to go back. And certainly not to Sacramento:

Gosh-Darn Pols!
By Madeleine Begun Kane

California Assembly’s decree:
The first week of March is “cuss-free.”
So don’t fret about health,
Or pine for lost wealth,
Cuz your pols are protecting you. See?

Update: After writing this, I ran across this interesting post on the same topic by Seth Frederiksen, who’s originally from California. And there’s more information about the bill over here at skippy’s.