Sunday 15 March 2020

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 degrenade.

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.







 




DIRECTION FOR WEB-TRAVELLERS:
If you want to resume daily titillations on our 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 through 2022. There are now (January 2023), over 1100 daily entries on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on 'Edifying Nonsense' in topic-based collections.


Tuesday 10 March 2020

Poetry 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!




































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 !  


DIRECTIONS for WEB-TRAVELLERS:
If you want to resume daily titillations on our 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 week in the years 2020 and 2021. (There are now over 600 daily entries on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on 'Edifying Nonsense' in topic-based collections.)




Thursday 5 March 2020

MAGICAL PALINDROMES About SELFLESSNESS

WORDPLAY POST #208

SATIRE COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio/ Gil Hurwitz, November 2019.
An extensive series of our recent posts highlighted maps that displayed targets for palindromic utterances about the world and its major cities. And in the process of doing this, we rediscovered our previous concept of 'Magical Palindromes'. You can get into this delightful world or wordplay by checking out the most recent post in that series, "Magical Canal Verses and Palindromes". 
The aim of the current blog is to extend these concepts in the spirit of the holidays, using a word that has been pivotal in the development of palindromes - selfless.

If you need help with the concept of magical palindromes, see the slide at the bottom of the post; it shows some simple examples which help you get the idea.


























Check out the 'FIRST SET' of examples (#1-5) here
Check out the 'SECOND SET' of examples (#6-10) here.
Check out the 'THIRD SET' of examples (#11-15) here.