Political palindromes, H - J

 

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VERS FRANÇAIS: Verses about SAVOIR-FAIRE

 
PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio (registered pseudonym) and Dr. GH, December 2018. Today's verses have been web-published at OEDILF.com, an online humour dictionary that has accumulated 102,000 carefully edited limericks. 

SONGLINK: For those readers who like poetry set to music:  On our sister blog "SILLY SONGS and SATIRE", you can find various singable versions of limerick medleys, including a collection of verses about French set to a novel tune. 

By the way, to find more limericks, or any other search target on either of these 2 blogs, use the SEARCH-FUNCTION found at the top of the right-hand margin.

Authors' Note: The present participle (participe présent) is used much less commonly in French compared to English. In contrast, infinitives are used more often, so 'knowing and doing' is described by savoir-faire, whereas sachant-faisant seems à rire (laughable).

All the French verbs mentioned here, as well as avoir, to have, are irregular, so their roots undergo weird transformations in some circumstances. Savant, an archaic form derived from savoir, is still in use as a noun for 'someone who knows' (a prodigy).

Authors' Note:

 à propos: in regard

outré: inappropriately eccentric in behaviour or appearance, or exceeding the limits of propriety

sans doute (sahn DOOT): certainly, without doubt

paraph (PA-ruhf): confirmatory mark after a signature, derived more remotely from the French term paraphe

nonpareil: a paragon, one who has no equal

Although the word nonpareil has been used in English, often pronounced as non-pah-REHL, since the 16th century, one must adopt the snobbier French pronunciation (non-pah-RAY) for the verse to rhyme.

Despite its status as a longstanding valuable English descriptor, unique retains a Gallic sound, which is frankly ... unique.

Authors' Note: 

au verso (oh vehr-SOH): French for 'on the reverse side'

Bilingual labelling can produce startling results. In Canada, pomegranates and their juice must be imported. But, in French-speaking parts of the country, we would refer to them as grenades, the modern French term for the fruit. In the circumstance under discussion, the particular juice-box was labelled on its French side as grenade.

An archaic term, pomegranate derives from the Middle Ages, but seems to have gotten stuck in English as a sort of borrowed anachronism.

Authors' Note: 

corniches (cohr-NEESH): French shortened expression for  routes en corniche, "roads on the ledge" that epitomize the spectacular views along the Côte d'Azur (French Riviera)

roué: (roo-AY, or anglicized, as here, ROO-ay): French for an elderly debauched man, derived from the outdated meaning of "broken on the wheel“, 

(la roue being French for "wheel").

Authors' Note: 

au verso (oh vehr-soh): French for 'on the reverse side'

Bilingual labelling, if you pay attention to it, can produce some startling results. In Canada, pomegranates and their juice must be imported. But, in French-speaking parts of the country, we would refer to them as grenades, the modern French term for the fruit. In the circumstance under discussion, the particular juice-box was labelled on its French side as (jus de) grenade.

An archaic term for the tree and for the fruit, pomegranate derives from the Middle Ages, but seems to have gotten stuck in English as a sort of borrowed anachronism. On the other hand, we have grenadine syrup, a cocktail additive, putatively made from pomegranate juice, but in fact, often concocted from synthetic ingredients.

 

                                           

 (Note that the three verses of this "brief saga" can be found in more readily legible format on the blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense"; click HERE.)                                                                                                                                                

                                                                                                        

 

 (Note that the three verses of this "brief saga" can be found in more readily legible format on the blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense"; click HERE.) 

DIRECTION FOR WEB-TRAVELLERS: (updated June 2024)

To resume daily titillations on our related blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense", click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 to the present. (As of June 2024, there are over 1500 unique entries available on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on "Edifying Nonsense" in topic-based collections.) The "Daily" format has the advantage of including Giorgio's photo-collages, song-lyrics and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.

Praising the CHARLESTON GARDEN

SATIRE COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio (registered pseudonym) and Dr. GH, 2018. Today's offering has been inspired by Mother Nature's wonderful displays, aided by ingenious garden designers who took advantage of the favorable climate in coastal South Carolina. The author has had the good fortune to be able to serve as a docent for the March 'Glorious Garden' Tours organized by the Historic Charleston Society.
Today's verses have all been through the extensive editing process at the cooperative poetry and humor site OEDILF.com (the Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form). The illustrating photographs, unless otherwise indicated were obtained on GC's iphone 7, and processed using Powerpoint software.

You may like to look at the enlarged illustrations. Click on any slide to get into the enlarged photos, navigate about via the thumbnails at the bottom, and then exit by clicking the little 'x' at the upper right!

CURRENT CONTENTS

Charleston garden

Garden-tour docents

Indica azaleas

Tractor-seat plant

Creeping fig

Japanese yew

Gazebo 

The above verses conjure up visions of tranquility, beauty, wonderment and pride as a part of gardening. The reader is warned however that more negative emotions such as dismay, victimization, and revenge may derive from forces, random, natural, man-made and sometimes self-inflicted, that detract from our attempts to surround ourselves with 'natural beauty'. That said, you can read about these more negative aspects on the post 'Naughtiness in the landscape: Garden Intruders'. Click HERE !  

GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WEB-EXPLORERS: 

To resume the sequence of daily titillations on our related blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense", click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings at the bottom of the page, and check the daily offerings for any month from the start of 2020 until December 2024. 

As of December 2024, there are 1800 unique entries available on the daily blog, displaying individual poems (often illustrated) and wordplay, but also with some photo-collages and parody song-lyrics. Most of their key elements are also presented here on "Edifying Nonsense" in topic-based collections, such as this one. The "Daily" format also has the advantage of including some song-lyrics, videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.

Poetic Parody: "AS WE NUKE IT"

                                                                                                                                                                                         

                    
POETIC PARODY (reprinted)

ORIGINAL POEM:  Jaques' Monologue, Act iii, Shakepeare's "As You Like It".

POETIC PARODY: Nucl Med Commun 2002 and Photon 2004; modified with permission of the author (G.A. Hurwitz).

SONGLINK: See also our sister blog "SILLY SONGS AND SATIRE", post #3, where this poem has been considerably modified and set to music ("The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", 1976 by Gordon Lightfoot).

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, 2013.

AS WE NUKE IT (Poetic parody)

All the world's a scan,

And all its ins and outs are Nuclear’s patients.

They have their statics, and their cine-modes,

And each head which rotates views many parts;

The PACS lists their registrations.....At first the milkscan —

Pooling of puking in the basal lungs:

Then, refluxing schoolgirl for her cysto,

With brimming bladder bright, curling her toes

Unwillingly to void: and then the scrotal —

Orchitis like fire, or a wakened Uro

Scrubbed for his torted testis:  then a bleeder,

Full of tinned cells, blood labelled in the lab,

Nil found by scopes, yet suddenly maroon-stooling,

Seeking the blip extravasation

Anywhere from antrum south:  and then, shunt-study —

Tube blocked in belly, with good CT down,

His eyes rolled back, us free-of-latex gloved,

Hakim or Pudenz bulged with fluid clear;

And so we draw it off.....The next is slotted

For the diuretic renogram,

Nephrostomy in place and pouch on flank,

His useful side, well drained by frusemide

(as we Brits say), but his big kidney’s counts

Rising again and portending trouble, no peaks

Or downturns in its curve.....Last scan of all,

That aids nocturnal transplant surgery —

Cerebral countlessness, then world-matched-donoring,   

Bank organs, yank tubes, and thank certainty.