Thursday, 15 October 2026

OCT 15, 2026: ReDUPLICATIONS, claptrap #4 [3]

     

This post represents the continuation of a collection of verses about the grammatical device, REDUPLICATIONS, as displayed on this blog on October 15, 2023 (claptrap #1), October 15, 2024 (claptrap #2) and October 15, 2025 (claptrap #3).

previous poetic posts (Note that captions are available for poems displayed on "Daily Illustrated Nonsense" as of 2024).

(claptrap #1): cootchie-(cootchie-)coo, claptrap, dilly-dally, fuddle-duddle, fuddy-duddy.  

(claptrap #2): hanky-panky, harum-scarum, helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, hilbilly.

(claptrap #3): hobos, hocus-pocus, hodge-podge.

CURRENT CONTENTS: (#4 -- October 15, 2026) 
Hoi polloi
Holus-bolus
Hubba-bubba. 




Authors' Note:
bubba: stereotyped male inhabitant of the southern US with an upbeat, but macho attitude
Bubba: frequent nickname for a specific male, as used by his buddies

rubba: rubber (American slang for condom), with typical non-rhotic pronunciation

chick: southern girl

hubba-hubba: intriguing (re)duplication, presumably originating in the US a century ago; an expression of approval voiced by males when viewing a sexually attractive chick.

Saturday, 10 October 2026

OCT 10, 2026: PINKOS: FORWARD THINKERS [3]


CURRENT CONTENTS:
Communist church
Vegetarianism
Gamophobic socialist



Authors' Note: Liberal thinking seized Europe towards the middle of the nineteenth century. Emboldened by the partial successes of the politically-targeted Chartists, intellectuals were drawn to idealistic social movements such as communitarianism. According to Wikipedia, John Goodwyn Barmby (1820 – 1881), one of its principals, introduced the term 'communist', based on the French le communisme and founded a revue called The Communist Chronicle. Seeking a spiritual path, he later founded the Communist Church, a sect that had congregations numbering in the teens at its peak. When the church folded in 1849, Barmby became active as a Unitarian minister.




Authors' Note: The authors, Ontario anapestrians, have not eaten meat in two decades. The restaurant scene in Ontario, as in some other world-wide destinations, has gradually become more hospitable to vegan and vegetarian preferences, such as Theresa's and the authors'. This development can be attributed in part to our influx of newcomers from south and east Asia. Meat-eaters can still be readily accommodated, however.




Authors' Note:   Gamophobia is an irrational fear of getting married, or of interpersonal commitment. Gamophobic individuals, or gamophobes, whatever their political views, are people who harbour such neurotic anxieties.

The slogan "better red than dead" was mentioned in a book that British philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote in 1961, in the face of a potential East-West nuclear confrontation; it was subsequently adopted by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, an organization that Russell helped found. The slogan has been used in both directions, with hardline rightwingers sometimes proclaiming "Better dead then red".

Note that a related disorder, gynophobia, is discussed in another of our intriguing and informative verses.                                                                                 


GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WEB-EXPLORERS: 
To resume your review of 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 July 2025. 
As of July 20, 2025, there are 2,000 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 the key elements, such as this one, are also assembled here on "Edifying Nonsense" in topic-based collections.
The "Daily" format, a formidable mix of genres, also has the advantage of including song-lyrics, videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.

Monday, 5 October 2026

OCT 5, 2026: Limericks and locks: The Poetry of CANALS


Swan guiding barge,
lower end of St-Martin Canal

The current offering meshes with a developing slew of map-art blogposts by Giorgio Coniglio and Dr. GH. With all this mental energy focusing backwards and forwards on palindromes, it is hard to avoid the subject of canals. And to help wordplay-buffs focus on palindromes about canals, here is an ancient blogpost on the subject: CANALINDROMES



...

Also, check out these collections of wordplay-maps by Dr. G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio (registered pseudonym)
 - Tourists' Palindromic Guide: The Old World #1
 - Tourists' Palindromic Guide: The Old World #2
 - Tourists' Palindromic Guide: The Old World #3
 - Tourists' Palindromic Guide: The Old World #4
and...
 - Tourists' Palindromic Guide: The Americas #1
 - 
Tourists' Palindromic Guide: The Americas #2
 - Tourists' Palindromic Guide: The Americas #3
 - Tourists' Palindromic Guide: The Americas #4

 - INTRODUCTORY CONCLUSION: The Tourists' Palindromic Guides  
as well as a didactic post explaining the origin and rationale of 






















To read more about the origin, creation and listing of magical palindromes, click or cluck here to get to Giorgio's original blogpost on the topic.




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Friday, 25 September 2026

@ SEP 25 (2026) singable satire: 'STARTING POINT 1948' @@@


MUSICAL UNDEPINNINGS: "Born Free", Matt Monro, 1966
ORIGINAL DOCUMENT: United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1 , 1948. * 

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, January 2016.



* "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood." 


STARTING POINT 1948

(to the tune of "Born Free" - these first 4 verses fit best with the melody of the 2nd and 3rd verse of the original)

All human beings are born free,
Of dignity worthy
And equal in basic fact.
Endowed with reason and goodness
A spirit of brotherhood
Should motivate their acts.

Tous les êtres humains naissent libres
En droits ils sont égaux
Ainsi qu’en dignité
Doués de conscience et de raison
Ils doivent se comporter dans
Un esprit de fraternité.

Todos los seres humanos nacen libres
En derechos están iguales
Y también en dignidad
Dotados de razón y conciencia
Deben comportarse
Con ánimo de hermandad.

Vse ljudi rozhdayutsya svobodnymi
Dostoyny uvazheniya
I ravnymi v osnovnykh pravakh
Nadelennyy prichine I dobra
Dukh bratstva
Mozhet vdokhnovit’ svoi deystviya.

(sing to verse#1 pattern of the original song, then continue )
Some schemed, six decades before us
Their voices implore us
Hold course until we’re all free.


Their world had huge imperfections
They craved free elections,
Disbanding of colonies.

East, West: great walls did divide them
And victims of apartheid -
Disparities so wide.

Dreamed free, they helped us to get there
Their efforts we’ll all share
‘Til we’re ‘born free’.

(Instrumental bridge)

They dreamed of our works-in-progress
Abuses to be redressed
Whatever race or sect.

They framed a great Declaration
To challenge each nation -
We’re all born free.


  _________________________________________________________________________

 

Tuesday, 15 September 2026

SEP 15, 2026: Cardiologic Tracings, AT HEART, thump #2 [4]


Readers might like to start off by reading about a particular group of heart disorders known as the cardiac arrhythmias, dealing with abormalities in the frequency of heartbeats. You can review that collection (syncopated verses about cardiac arrhythmias) by clicking HERE.

The current blogpost represents continuation of an earlier post, dealing with wider cardiologic issues, entitled  'AT HEART: thump #1' displayed on September 5, 2025. 

prior posted poems

(thump #1): arteriopath, bypass grafts, dipyridamole stress, dobutamine stress.


CURRENT CONTENTS: (#2 -- September 15, 2026) 
Ejection fraction
Hyperlipidemia
Hypertension
Myocardial ischemia


Authors' Note:  In disease states, including those producing congestive heart failure, the ejection fraction of the left ventricle, a measure indicating the strength of contraction, provides important information concerning prognosis (potential outcome) and the need for treatment. 
   The ejection fraction can be measured by echocardiography, magnetic resonance imaging, or several different nuclear (radio-isotope) techniques. These techniques measure the volume of the ventricle at the end of diastolic (relaxation) and systolic (contraction) phases of the cardiac cycle. Despite the name, the change during systole is generally given in medical jargon as the percent relative change, rather than as a true fraction; e.g. 60% is good, 30% is bad.



Authors' Note: Jealousy at the flight of birds has apparently resulted in expressions suggesting that human social responsibility is analogous to having one's wings clipped, or flying straight, as here.

Hyperlipemia (also known in America as hyperlipidemia), is a medical condition in which high blood levels of fats (lipids), particularly cholesterol, portend cardiac disease, including deadly heart attacks. Hyperlipemia is one of a number of such asymptomatic risk factors including hypertension and diabetes. Fortunately, changes in lifestyle including diet and exercise, and judicious prescription of pharmaceutical drugs, such as statins, can reduce risk.



 Authors' Note: High blood pressure, or hypertension, a chronic condition generally of unknown cause, is one of the major cardiovascular risk factors playing a role in the development of adult heart disease. It is also of particular importance in the causation of stroke, accounting for up to 50% of the risk for that condition. 






Authors' Note: There is variability in patients' response to the development of blockages in the coronary arteries. Part of this is due to the gradual development of collateral arteries or side branches, which may mitigate the effect of the obstructions to produce chronic symptoms or acute severe damage to heart muscle. The net impact on flow can be assessed through imaging showing blood flow to heart muscle at rest and stress, with nuclear or other studies of myocardial perfusion (‘gated SPECT’).


GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WEB-EXPLORERS: 
To resume your review of 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 through the summer of 2026. 
As of 2026, there are 2,000 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 these key elements of our work are assembled here on "Edifying Nonsense" in topic-based collections.
The "Daily" format, a formidable mix of genres has the advantage of including song-lyrics, videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.