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.
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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.
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.
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.