Monday, 15 November 2021

Variant Verses: SPOOFS on the ICONIC NANTUCKET LIMERICKS











Authors' Note:
Bay Stater: current official designation for a resident of the US state of Massachusetts   

















Editor's Warning: You have to provide proof that you are more than 12 years in age to read the following two verses.







moose may be found at U. of T.
(the University of Toronto),
but not on Vancouver Island










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Wednesday, 10 November 2021

A Corner of the Poet's World: LIMERICK VARIATIONS





Authors' Note:  Although a limerick is traditionally conceived as a 5-line concoction, once a sixth line ('L6') is developed, it may become an inherent part of the poem. The rule of the majority being what it is, on the OEDILF site for creating well-honed limericks the L6 is often demeaned as being only an addendum. The reader may detect that the editors of this blog  (Dr. G. H. and his registered pseudonym G. C.) are supporters of efforts to avoid the crashing boredom of a universe of traditional 5-liners.
  
   On this daily blog, 6-line verses, otherwise adhering to limerick form, can be found on about 180 blogposts for the interval January 2020 to March 2023; generally these involve a final line following the A-rhyme pattern used in lines 1,2, and 5; on occasion, in another  2-3 dozen poems, second or third appended lines have also been added. 




Authors' Note: 
Ka-pow! (variant kerpow!): comic-book type interjection for a noise emitted when a blow is landed in a fight (often involving a super-hero)
Line 6: occasionally used sixth line of a limerick, unheard of in the early days of the modality, finding some currency among modern authors. See our poem 'Addendum-icitis'. 
The limericks written by Edward Lear and his contemporaries a century ago often included repetition of the poem's key word at the end of the final line.




Author's Note:  Well, yes. This verse does go on at length (including a D-rhyme extension), but in a highly regulated fashion that would have been applauded by the famed lyrical seer and his followers. Support by a cadre of Irish disciples had materialized initially, but to O'Malley's bitter disappointment, was unsustained globally.



Authors' Note  The authors can box themselves into writing single defining limericks in the standard format used at OEDILF, the online humor dictionary, and have done so several hundred times. However, they delight in multi-verse limericks which provide a richer space for development of plot lines, contrasts and examples. Currently (April 2023), Giorgio’s ‘Author's Showcase' at the OEDILF website displays 80 multi-verse entries.         
   




Authors' Note

pic: informal abbreviation for 'picture’

   The author has the experience of posting on his blogs (as here) and on his Facebook profile, hundreds of his OEDILF limericks that are initially framed as Power-Point slides with embedded pictures (fabric art, paintings including portraits, cell-phone-camera and web-photos) and computer-generated graphics. If the illustrations are abundant, additional slides may be used for elucidation, and are a good vehicle for displaying the 'Author's Notes'. Poetic submissions that seem particularly appropriate for this type of enhancement include verses about biography, wildlife, tourist locations, food, visual arts and recreational activities.



OVERLAPPING THEMES:


Authors' NoteWe have a complete post (10 verses or so) devoted to limericks with dual rhyme schemes!, as introduced here ...


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Friday, 5 November 2021

Verses About DOCTORS and their PRACTICES, part #2

This offering of collected nonsense is a continuation of themes developed in a much earlier post of December 10, 2018.




(mayd-SEHn sahn frohn-TYAYR)
Authors' Note: A small group of French doctors and journalists, in the wake of the horrific Biafran famine in 1971, founded Médecins Sans Frontières (occasionally for English speakers translated as Doctors Without Borders). Designed to deal with humanitarian crises in the developing world in regions beseiged by overt war, armed internal conflicts, epidemics and natural disasters, the charity has repeatedly distinguished itself, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. It currently operates in over seventy countries worldwide.




Authors' Note:

diabetologist: a super-specialized endocrinologist who deals with diabetes mellitus and its control

Glycated hemoglobin (hemoglobin A1C), reflects a chemical influence of ambient glucose levels in blood. This simple but subtle alteration of hemoglobin carried by the blood's red cells was discovered in 1958. As the average lifespan of red cells in the blood is three to four months, the biochemical test of blood levels yields a number that reflects blood sugar control over the previous few months. Generally, as your diabetologist will explain, a value less than 7% has been found to reflect good control.





Authors' Note: The field of hematology encompasses a wide range of blood maladies, including anemias and clotting disorders. On our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense", you can find a related blogpost with numerous verses on the latter topic. Click HERE for "To Clot, or Not to Clot".



Authors' Note: 

 (kap-SAY-sin, or kap-SAY-uh-sin)

  Capsaicin is a chemical derived from hot peppers that creates a sensation of heat on the human skin and in the human mouth. Almost all other mammals also dislike the sensation, so the chemical has come to play a role as the major ingredient in many products touted for repelling mammalian pests.

  Despite the mostly-true story related here, the drug has seldom been prescribed as a treatment by psychoanalysts or other psychiatrists. Moreover, the difficulty of repeated applications (repetition may be needed after each rainfall) to rooftop sites makes its use in this setting hazardous. 




Authors' Note: 

orthopod: a casual name for the orthopedic surgeon (surgical bone specialist)

For many sites in the upper and lower limbs where trauma has resulted in fracture with angulation or rotation of the fragments, surgical treatment ('ORIF, or open Reduction, Internal Fixation') has become the standard of treatment.

You can find out more about Pete's professional life by proceeding to a blogpost entitled "Breaking News: FUNNY BONES". Click HERE




Authors' Note: 'dais' may apparently be pronounced DYE-uhs or DAY-uhs, although the authors had been familiar with only the former pronunciation.





Check out the version of this verse on our companion blog 'Daily Edifying Nonsense' for a photo-collage related to the  above verse. Click HERE.


Authors' Note: 'Essential', an outdated-sounding modifier, is used to imply 'idiopathic', i.e. without known cause. There are some underlying risk factors, e.g. genetic disposition, and kidney disease, that may contribute, but well over 90% of hypertension is without a definable underyling cause. 'Essential hypertension' is a well-known (although archaic) term for your health-care provider, but is confusing and even counterintuitive for patients. 



Authors' Note: Stitches: the Journal of Medical Humour is a monthly Canadian humour magazine. Founded by an Ontario family physician, the journal in its original paper format, became the most widely read Canadian medical journal, was licensed in a handful of other countries, and prevailed from 1990. Although targeted at the general public, drug advertisements for medical professionals originally bore the major costs of the project. Since 2007, the journal has survived in a reduced form as a monthly online publication; the author laments that it is no longer a widespread tool for waiting-room diversion.




Authors' Note:  The rapid pace of scientific and technical developments in the field of medicine makes ongoing education for physicians essential. Moreover, regulatory bodies, conscious of public perception, promulgate standards for current best practices. ‘Maintenance of competence’, recertification’ and ‘lifelong learning’ have become buzzwords.

  The serendipitous discovery in 1989 of the use of sildenafil (eventually marketed by Pfizer in 1998 as Viagra, 'a little blue pill' for erectile dysfunction) ushered in an era in which post-graduate medical conferences often featured updates on this now-treatable common disorder. The putative distribution of drug samples to lecture attendees is apocryphal.

Readers who appreciate wordplay might also enjoy a posting entitled 'electile dysfunction' that can be found by clicking HERE.








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