Editors' Note: Before proceeding to these collections of short verses, readers might benefit from reviewing an earlier post entitled Edification about Word-Pairs: "The Binomials", A Linguistic Lesson.
This post is a continuation of a collection of verses dealing with the grammatic device of 'BINOMIALS as posted on this blog on August 5, 2022 (first examples).
prior displayed poems:
(first set of examples): betwixt and between (fossil words), bigger and bigger, birds and bees, bump and grind, by hook or by crook, down and out.
CURRENT CONTENTS (#2)
Far and wide (hives -- urticaria)
First and last
Flora and fauna (2 verses)
Flotsam and jetsam
Food and drink
Hale and hearty (2 verses)
Authors' Note: Although 'flora' (the collection of visible plants) and 'fauna' (the collection of visible animals) may be of equal importance, and are familiar to most readers, they are listed preferentially in English dictionaries and encyclopedia in the order shown above.
The above verse highlights the importance of the microbiota, a group of creatures that have flown generally under the radar, the limits of human perception having previously shaped understanding of the range of life on our planet. This underappreciated group of organisms includes bacteria, fungi, viruses and others, that teem in and on our bodies and those of all other creatures, in the soil, and even in apparently difficult or hostile environments.
Authors' Note: 'Floaters', in the eye, a common symptom may require expert medical attention when they first appear or become more numerous. Most often, they are insignificant and chronic. Jill might be surprised to learn that they are not caused by accumulation of discrete floating particles, e.g. jetsam, but are rather an effect attributed to fibrous strands traversing the vitreous (posterior) chamber of the eye.
Authors' Note: A binomial pair, phrase, or expression, is a language element consisting of a pair of words that are used in a fixed order as an idiom. The two members of the pair are the same part of speech, are semantically related, often near-synonyms or antonyms, and are most commonly joined by and, or or; they often play a role as clichés. The term irreversible binomial was coined and extensively discussed by American philologist Yakov Malkiel in 1954. The most catchy of these phrases are alliterative, as hale and hearty, or rhyming, as in near and dear, or haste makes waste.
Authors' Note: Binomial expressions combine two paired elements in a fixed order. Lists of these phrases show that when the two genders are in question, males almost always come first. This bias is shown in dozens of idioms such as boys and girls, lords and ladies, men and women, brother and sister, kings and queens, Jack and Jill, etc.
The few notable exceptions highlight a gender-constrained role for women, including belles and beaus, bride and groom, and moms and dads.
Gender-bias in language is also discussed in another verse by the authors. Click HERE.
Authors' Note: The forty-fifth US president and his advisors seem to have come up with a scare tactic, telling voters that waves of Central American refugees appearing on the southern US border were comprised of potential rapists and drug-dealers. The 'redemption' referred to here is entry into the safe refuge of the United States.
For binomial expressions, such as sin and redemption, there is (in normal times) a mandatory, irreversible order of the two linguistic elements.
Authors' Note: The astute reader might realize that "whence, wherefore and whither" (like "snug as a bug in a rug") is a TRInomial phrase, a less common entity.
For more verses about "Binomial Expressions", please proceed to part #2 by clicking HERE.
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