=SDC= Q05: A Question That Came From Nantucket
Jerry Friedman
two words in abridged dictionaries that rhyme with the last word of
the first line. Five bonus Herdwicks if the fourth line ends with the
only word that rhymes with the last word of the third line. Rhymes
should be exact, meter should be smooth in the Panel's judgement, and
the limerick should make at least Learian sense. No sheep will be
lost if the third and fourth lines aren't indented.
All words must be in dictionaries. No nonce compounds. No rhymes
that require non-rhoticism, caught-is-cot, or marry-is-Mary-is-merry.
--
Jerry Friedman, T. O. Panelist
Reinhold {Rey} Aman
>
> No sheep will be lost if the third and fourth lines aren't indented.
>
--
~~~ Reinhold {Rey} Aman ~~~
Mark Brader
> Write a limerick in which the second and fifth lines end in the only
> two words in abridged dictionaries that rhyme with the last word of
> the first line.
How on Earth are we supposed to know how many words in a particular
dictionary rhyme with a particular word?
The 3-word set I chose was picked from the web page
http://everything2.com/title/rhyme, but I certainly don't assert
that it's actually valid by the above criteria.
A limerick is a short poem
Without a connection to phloem
(At least usually,
You'll now clearly see)
With the first line somewhat like a proem.
--
Mark Brader And now write us
Toronto A devious quasipoem!
m...@vex.net --Richard Heathfield
My text in this article is in the public domain.
James Hogg
> Jerry Friedman:
>> Write a limerick in which the second and fifth lines end in the only
>> two words in abridged dictionaries that rhyme with the last word of
>> the first line.
>
> How on Earth are we supposed to know how many words in a particular
> dictionary rhyme with a particular word?
>
> The 3-word set I chose was picked from the web page
> http://everything2.com/title/rhyme, but I certainly don't assert
> that it's actually valid by the above criteria.
>
> A limerick is a short poem
> Without a connection to phloem
> (At least usually,
> You'll now clearly see)
> With the first line somewhat like a proem.
Or this one, entitled "The Etymologist on the Bier":
As I stood by the draped catafalque
And surveyed the dead face, spread with talc,
Through a hole in the plinth
Came the whoosh of a synth;
I thought, "Is it a loan or a calque?"
--
James
LFS
<applause>
--
Laura
(emulate St. George for email)
Harrison Hill
wrote:
While switching the levers of toggles
To work a machine that makes goggles,
I stand on a gradient
Which lights have made radiant.
So what must my mind do? It boggles!
Harrison Hill
My bed is incredibly lumpy
The worst of the best at being bumpy!
In surfeit of torpor
I'm rich (not a pauper!)
So that's why I'm often quite...
James Hogg
There was a young man with a torch,
Who was looking for something to scorch.
Then along came an oaf
With a freshly baked loaf,
And they both enjoyed toast on the porch.
(Apologies to speakers of variants of English [including myself] for
whom "porch" is not a perfect rhyme with the other two words.)
--
James
John Holmes
Does it help that today, August 18, has been declared National Bad Poetry
Day in America:
http://library.thinkquest.org/2886/aug.htm
Another one for Vinny to add to his collection of useful Days and Years of
things.
--
Regards
John
for mail: my initials plus a u e
at tpg dot com dot au
Vinny Burgoo
There are no coincidences in the SDC. The Panel is aware of everything.
--
VB
Though this particular Panellist was not aware of that
Harrison Hill
Oops, I had better withdraw this one, because it is making me jumpy.
James Hogg
By coincidence, I happen to have another limerick which I hope meets the
strict criteria:
A man whose name can't be divulged
Had pleasures in which he indulged:
He likes things that squelched
And people who belched
And parts of the body that bulged.
--
James
James Hogg
Oops! I had to correct a typo the spell chequer mist:
A man whose name can't be divulged
Had pleasures in which he indulged:
He liked things that squelched
Vinny Burgoo
Have some scrumpy.
--
VB
Vinny Burgoo
Preliminary ruling:
If 'catafalque' rhymes with 'talk' then so does 'orichalc'. Don't be
brassed off.
--
VB
Vinny Burgoo
>Jerry Friedman:
>> Write a limerick in which the second and fifth lines end in the only
>> two words in abridged dictionaries that rhyme with the last word of
>> the first line.
>
>How on Earth are we supposed to know how many words in a particular
>dictionary rhyme with a particular word?
>
>The 3-word set I chose was picked from the web page
>http://everything2.com/title/rhyme, but I certainly don't assert
>that it's actually valid by the above criteria.
>
> A limerick is a short poem
> Without a connection to phloem
> (At least usually,
> You'll now clearly see)
> With the first line somewhat like a proem.
Preliminary ruling:
'Poem', 'phloem' and 'proem' fit the bill but the scansion sucks.
--
VB
Vinny Burgoo
An effulgent attempt.
--
VB
Vinny Burgoo
'Joggles' etc.
--
VB
Vinny Burgoo
Preliminary ruling:
Alas, the NSOED has a 'lorch', a variant of 'lorcha'. ('Nautch' ruled
out 'cos it requires non-rhoticism.)
--
VB
Peter Moylan
<applesauce>
But it took me ages to find the difference between your two versions.
--
Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.
Harrison Hill
I'm surprised James didn't finish with the stylisitically superior "In
the porch with their torch to debauch".
James Hogg
I didn't want to break the rules.
--
James
Harrison Hill
My outlook may not be the sunniest,
My jokes are not always the funniest,
But yellow like mustard
Consider my custard
By far and away it's the runniest!
Peter Moylan
I certainly wouldn't rhyme 'talk' with 'talc'.
Vinny Burgoo
You pass the test. The Panel sometimes employs deliberate errors to
check whether people are paying attention.
'Talc', natch.
--
VB
Jerry Friedman
A valiant attempt, but "punny" is in dictionaries and "punniest" is
easy to find.
LFS
Shouldn't that be "liked"?
I can't imagine how the panel will judge all these but you must be due a
whole flock by now.
LFS
Possibly because it doesn't make sense.
James Hogg
Not even Learian sense.
--
James
the Omrud
> Write a limerick in which the second and fifth lines end in the only
> two words in abridged dictionaries that rhyme with the last word of
> the first line. Five bonus Herdwicks if the fourth line ends with the
> only word that rhymes with the last word of the third line. Rhymes
> should be exact, meter should be smooth in the Panel's judgement, and
> the limerick should make at least Learian sense. No sheep will be
> lost if the third and fourth lines aren't indented.
>
> All words must be in dictionaries. No nonce compounds. No rhymes
> that require non-rhoticism, caught-is-cot, or marry-is-Mary-is-merry.
A horse with a coat coloured purple
Tried to fit a new coat on his curple
He turned round in a circle
And attempted to hurkle
But he ended up having to hirple.
Oh yes.
--
David
James Hogg
I don't care what the panelists say; I like it.
--
James
the Omrud
It gave me considerable pleasure, so I don't care if I have to go sheepless.
--
David
Vinny Burgoo
Preliminary ruling:
This meets all the criteria.
>Oh yes.
Steady, neddy.
--
VB
LFS
I am very impressed by the answers to this question and I hope that they
will be collected on the web site in their full glory.
the Omrud
Preliminary response:
Thank you in anticipation.
>> Oh yes.
>
> Steady, neddy.
Bready. Oh, I see.
--
David
R H Draney
>
>Does it help that today, August 18, has been declared National Bad Poetry
>Day in America:
>http://library.thinkquest.org/2886/aug.htm
Looks like "Get Fuzzy" cartoonist Darby Conley jumped the gun by a couple of
days:
http://cdn.svcs.c2.uclick.com/c2/5fa45490a430012e2f8200163e41dd5b
....r
--
Me? Sarcastic?
Yeah, right.
John Dunlop
> [the Omrud:]
>
>> A horse with a coat coloured purple
>> Tried to fit a new coat on his curple
>> He turned round in a circle
>> And attempted to hurkle
>> But he ended up having to hirple.
>>
>> Oh yes.
>
> I don't care what the panelists say; I like it.
I like anything that brings Roger Miller to mind:
Roses are red and violets are purple
Sugar is sweet and so is maple surple
--
John
Athel Cornish-Bowden
Me too.
Speaking of sheep, I learned today that a sheppey is defined as the
smallest distance (about 1.4 km) at which sheep remain picturesque
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement).
--
athel
Jerry Friedman
Thank you!
Sheep will have to wait till we check "circle" and "hurkle".
the Omrud
I'll put the mint sauce on ice ...
--
David
James Hogg
While we're on the subject of food:
The fracture incurred by the elk
Was healed with the aid of a spelk
By a chap in our midst
Who said things like "thou didst"
And "methinks" and "I'm partial to whelk."
(Hoping that the word "spelk" is in the NSOED as one of only two words
rhyming with "elk". If it hadn't been intended to comply with the strict
rules enforced in this contest, this limerick might have ended with "I
dig Lawrence Welk.")
--
James
the Omrud
Very nice. I toyed with didst and midst for a while, but I couldn't fit
them into an sort of sense, Learian or otherwise.
--
David
Vinny Burgoo
I'm afraid the NSOED has 'opercle'. Stress on the second syllable.
--
VB
T. O. Panel(l)ist
Vinny Burgoo
The NSOED does have 'spelk' but it also has 'belk', 'welk, 'selch',
'stelk' and 'yelk'.
--
VB
T. O. P.
franzi
Heather (who answers to Erica)
Told her cousin (who lives in America):
"I'm utterly baffled,
My rhymes have been snaffled
For these =SDC= esoterica."
--
franzi
franzi
>Non-compliantly, I suspect:
>
>Heather (who answers to Erica)
>Told her cousin (who lives in America):
> "I'm utterly baffled,
> My rhymes have been snaffled
The herdwicks will have to be raffled.
R H Draney
Not one of mine:
A pious old Jew from Salonika,
Said, "For Christmas I'd like a harmonica."
His wife, to annoy him,
Said, "Feh! That's for goyim,"
And bought him a jew's harp for Hanukkah.
LFS
Which would have been much funnier...
Jerry Friedman
To entertain you while you wait, I'd like to offer the Panel's proof
of concept:
A sailor insulted Lord Nelson.
While scraping along past the kelson
He grabbed at a lobster
That sneered like a mobster
And swatted his nose with its telson.
--
Jerry Friedman Totally Officially thinks that works.
Jerry Friedman
It's finally here, but be careful who you have taking care of it.
Your Cormo is marked with a stirpal
Design as if one would besperple
A zebra with leopard--
Too simple a shepherd
Might gaze and get giddy and turple.
--
Jerry Friedman, T. O. Belated OED Wildcardsearcher
the Omrud
I will guard it carefully, unlike the shoulder of its cousin which is
currently being prepared to to go into the oven, and which I helped to
butcher (not kill, you understand, just reduce the carcass to joints).
--
David
Ian P Noble
wrote:
>In alt.usage.english, Harrison Hill wrote:
>>On Aug 18, 8:47 am, Harrison Hill <harrish...@gmx.com> wrote:
>>> On Aug 17, 11:45 pm, Jerry Friedman <je...@totally-official.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> > Write a limerick in which the second and fifth lines end in the only
>>> > two words in abridged dictionaries that rhyme with the last word of
>>> > the first line. Five bonus Herdwicks if the fourth line ends with the
>>> > only word that rhymes with the last word of the third line. Rhymes
>>> > should be exact, meter should be smooth in the Panel's judgement, and
>>> > the limerick should make at least Learian sense. No sheep will be
>>> > lost if the third and fourth lines aren't indented.
>>>
>>> > All words must be in dictionaries. No nonce compounds. No rhymes
>>> > that require non-rhoticism, caught-is-cot, or marry-is-Mary-is-merry.
>>>
>>> My bed is incredibly lumpy
>>> The worst of the best at being bumpy!
>>> In surfeit of torpor
>>> I'm rich (not a pauper!)
>>> So that's why I'm often quite...
>>
>>Oops, I had better withdraw this one, because it is making me jumpy.
>
>Have some scrumpy.
No thanks, I'm already rather dumpy.
Cheers - Ian
(BrE: Yorks., Hants.)
Richard Bollard
It's from The Meaning of Liff.
SHEPPY (n.)
Measure of distance (equal to approximately seven eighths of a mile),
defined as the closest distance at which sheep remain picturesque.
--
Richard Bollard
Canberra Australia
To email, I'm at AMT not spAMT.