MAR (2023), submitted palindromes #39

 

Wordplay maps: R-E-P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N-S in Canada (anagrams #13-16)

For more wordplay maps on this topic, click HERE.

To return to the original post, i.e. maps #1-4, click HERE.

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As of December 2024, there are 1800 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 their key elements are also presented here on "Edifying Nonsense" in topic-based collections, such as this one. The "Daily" format also has the advantage of including some song-lyrics, videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog. 

DEATH and the AFTERLIFE #2

previous poetic posts (#1)

cardiac arrest
decease in the crease
dining in Heaven
end-of-life care
garbage in Heaven
giving up the ghost
ghostbusters
heavenly pie

CURRENT CONTENTS: (#2)

Homes in Heaven (Shemayim)

Last breath

Leaving the planet

Memorial service

[Sic] to death

Where bad Jews go

Will's last testament

Bequest (3 stanzas, a 'brief saga') 

Authors' Note: 

chutzpah (Yiddish): shameless audacity

Shemayim (Hebrew): heaven

Authors' Note: We were inspired, in studying the enigmatic final chapter of existence, to find that OEDILF, as of mid-2022, has about 150 submissions that deal with the subject of 'death'. That research shows that the spectre of death underscores many linguistic idioms.

getting off cheap: an idiom, perhaps further towards the slang end of the scale, in comparison with getting off easy

sick to death of: a cliché, only rarely entailing the imminent demise of the subject

to die in your sleep: a cliché, albeit puzzling biologically

survive to a ripe old age: a cliché; here also used as the basis of a pun

Authors' Note: The above verse was inspired by an essay by Mal Abrams, who named the eternally unsatisfactory restaurant 'Feh'.

 Author's Note:  Although the short forms 'Will' and 'Bill' may be casually interchanged as first names (short forms of ‘William’), the nouns 'will' (as in 'last will and testament') and 'bill' are generally used with more careful scrutiny. ‘Will’ and ‘testament’ being essentially synonyms, the expression is a prototypical example of the redundant binomial expressions that seem to be loved by lawyers.

    Subtle differences in the form of idioms may underwrite important differences in meaning. ‘At last’ and ‘at the last’ seem similar, but in fact their usage and meaning differs considerably.

(Note that the three stanzas of this "brief saga" can be found with more photos and in more readily legible format on the blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense"; click HERE.) 

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As of December 2024, there are 1800 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 their key elements are also presented here on "Edifying Nonsense" in topic-based collections, such as this one. The "Daily" format also has the advantage of including some song-lyrics, videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.

Grandpa Greg's Advanced Grammar: NEOLOGISMS, classic and personal

CURRENT CONTENTS:
classic neologisms

Fulton's Gnu-bar

Hipster and hippy

gobbledegook

personal neologisms

electile dysfunction

awarassment

POTUSA

dyscoprotaxis

Authors' Note: Readers might also enjoy the authors' verses dealing with the epicurean hippy, the prosthetic hipster, the Congolese hippodrome, hip replacement, and the hippocampus.

Authors' Note: The disparaging term gobbledegook was first used in 1944 by a Texas politician named Maverick (scion of the original staunchly independent thinker). Its meaning — pompous, overinflated language — gave rise a few year later to the equivalent bafflegab. These expressions, employing repetition of sounds, have a musical and amusing quality, as do their venerable synonyms --hogwash, poppycock, balderdash, bunkum and tommyrot. (Only their close cousin claptrap (alternately clap-trap) -- would qualify as a reduplication).

Author's Note: Rudy Giuliani, former federal prosecutor and mayor of New York City, served as a legal advisor to the forty-fifth US leader, coordinating court challenges designed to help overturn the results of the American presidential election of 2020. Dysfunction as a general medical or social state is discussed by SheilaB, a prolific contributor to OEDILF. Among many verses on the topical specific entity, Giorgio’s take on erectile dysfunction can also be reviewed at that website.  

 Electile dysfunction has not been as popular a topic.

 

Authors' Note:

abuela: grandmother in Spanish

abuelita: 'little grandmother', an honored family role in Hispanic-American culture

POTUS: President of the United States, acronymic title that has so far been applied only to males, few of whom have been bilingual

POTUSA: (A = of America), a title, influenced by Spanish wordforms, for a female American president; and if she's a Latina, so much the better.

Authors' Note:  Dyscoprotaxis is a neologism, indicating the failure to get the stuff of one's life in order, composed of the familiar Greek roots dys- (impaired, failed), copro- (excrement), and -taxis (movement). The word is opposite in meaning to getting it together.

A few personal neologisms share the distinction of being targeted as a major element in verses elsewhere on this blog. These include  DOGgraphy (diagnostic imaging), and pelicatessen (waterfowl).

Other personal neologisms have played a supportive role including critiquery, high-nasty, and pelfless.

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As of December 2024, there are 1800 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 their key elements are also presented here on "Edifying Nonsense" in topic-based collections, such as this one. The "Daily" format also has the advantage of including some song-lyrics, videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.

URBAN CONCERNS

CURRENT CONTENTS
Aged street trees
Break of day
Dog park
Elevator reluctance
In the distance
Old conservatory
Pre-stressed concrete
School districts and real estate

Authors' Note: This verse drew inspiration from the poem "Cuore di Legno" (Heart of Wood) by poet Primo Levi. In the poem, the narrator, an aged horse chestnut growing on a busy urban street, complains of, among other insults, being peed on by neighborhood dogs. 

sunset reflected briefly 
8:30 p.m., May 2023
building to east of downtown

Authors' Note: 

groundling: the author's nickname for people who live on the ground floor, such as, up 'til now, his immediate family members

lift: Canadians, like their American neighbours, usually term this device an 'elevator'; to fit the tight space here, we borrowed the British synonym; however, it is noted that we retained our customary spelling of story (rather than the British storey)
helluva: common undefined slang that has been used in 40 verses on OEDILF to date (2023); presumably a distortion of hell of a ...

Another true personal story, apart from taking liberties with the floor numbers. The author currently inhabits a rental unit across the building from the suite being gloriously renovated/demolished by 'Carl the contractor'. This situation accords with advice by a relative to 'try out the lifestyle change' to ease the transition from house to 'bungalow in the sky'.

                                     

Authors' Note: We are fortunate to have moved into an apartment building just across the street from a public conservatory whose warm, humid, glass-roofed galleries offer the visitor views and dreams of escape to tropical floral environments. Visits are especially reinvigorating on dark and depressing winter days, and admission is free! Renovations are proceeding in the central palm-court, but the lateral greenhouse galleries remain open. 

You might also enjoy reviewing photo-enhanced poetry posts related to poinsettias, koi, red-eared sliders(turtles), Ontario cactuses, and Leda and the Swan at the same destination.

 

Authors' Note: Surveillance of tension cables in pre-stressed concrete is an arduous process, but is essential in older buildings, particularly in parking garages, although apartment towers may also be at risk. Sampling by drilling into the slabs only allows assessment of whether cables have failed, i.e. are broken, and are no longer under tension. Since the 1980s, the development of occlusive plastic fittings at attachment points has apparently reduced the possibility of corrosion due to moisture, a major cause of failure.

The author concedes a lack of professional knowledge concerning this problem. Please consult a structural engineer.

GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WEB-EXPLORERS: 

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As of December 2024, there are 1800 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 their key elements are also presented here on "Edifying Nonsense" in topic-based collections, such as this one. The "Daily" format also has the advantage of including some song-lyrics, videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.