) AUG 25 (2023) singable satire: 'BROKEN ARROW' -- the EAGLES

 

MUSICAL UNDERPINNINGS:  "Desperado", The Eagles, 1973. "Desperado" is also the name of the second studio album recorded by the band. 

SATIRE COMPOSED: A sad anti-war satire by Giorgio Coniglio, March 2018.

PARODY-WORDLINK: The original story was encountered as a 60th anniversary reprise by the Charleston SC daily newspaper Post and Courier. Another take on this interesting episode has been twisted into limerick verse by  Giorgio in a 3-stanza poem HERE. 

PARODY-SONGLINK: The same tune was used as the vehicle for a parody song posted in 2014 entitled "Macadamias".

To find ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany "BROKEN ARROW" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.

BROKEN ARROW

(to the tune of "Desperado")

“Broken Arrow” — Why don’t we drop the pretenses
The Department of Defense has hidden truth ’til now.
Hardened warheads (or just training simulation),
And the trigger didn’t detonate the payload somehow.

We’re talking Cold War ’58, and a farm near Florence in our rural state.
Air pocket, training crew, bomber overhead.
They lost control of a big device
A nuclear explosion wouldn’t be nice.
Had it triggered, folks in Florence’d all be dead.

“Broken Arrow” — from the heavens bomb tumbled.
When A-bombs are fumbled, there’s no time for alarm.
Flattened farmhouse, and left a 30-foot crater, but
No plutonium detonater, so ‘no serious harm’.

Just months before, off the Georgia shore, two Air Force planes collided;
Never found, an H-bomb ditched into the sea.
Plutonium capsule had been removed (official account’s not yet disproved)
Near Tybee Island, the device rests quietly.

Broken Arrows — there are dozens of examples.
The evidence is ample, we should close off this gate.
World leaders, we’re needing
Diplomatic moderation.
Let’s halt reckless provocation, reckless provocation,
Let’s stop arms proliferation before it’s too late.

Anagram swarms, mapped by state: E-L-E-C-T-I-O-N F-R-A-U-D, #1

This collection of 3 posts, highlighting wordplay maps results from a contest hosted at this site in 2021. You can read about the contest and its fascinating results HERE. 

 The above slide includes the important political anagram 'FEAR NOT, IL DUCE' (to appreciate this letter-scramble you would have to remember that Il Duce - the 'leader' in Italian - was a frequently used form of address for Benito Mussolini).

 

If you have had fun with these verses, you could venture to review the second collection of this type; click HERE for part #2.

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 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.

 

AUG 15, 2023: PATIENTS and their MALADIES, part #3 [4]

This post is a continuation of 'PATIENTS and their MALADIES, as posted on this blog August 15, 2021 (part#1), and August 15, 2022 (part#2).

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

(illnesses #1): amblyopia, bph (benign prostatic hypertrophy), brain symptoms post-concussion, common cold, Conn's syndrome (aldosterone excess). 

(illnesses #2): claudication. diabetes insipidus, dyspareunia, eye discharge. 

CURRENT CONTENTS: (#3 -- August 15, 2023):
Flu-like symptoms

Ganglion cysts
Gluten sensitivity

Graves disease

Authors' Note: These common small limb lesions that may fluctuate spontaneously are most often found at the wrist. The name ganglion, Greek for "knot", is a misnomer, as examination by ultrasound or aspiration shows that they are thin-walled cysts filled with synovial (i.e. joint) fluid — such testing is not needed in most cases. Incidentally, the term tumour is a synonym for "growth" or "lump"; health professionals avoid using the term in dealing with lesions that have no oncologic significance in order to allay unnecessary patient anxiety.

Authors' Note: Celiac disease (also spelled coeliac), is a classic gastrointestinal disease characterized by poor absorption of nutrients and wasting, that is caused by sensitivity to gluten, a composite of two storage proteins that are found extensively in certain cereal grains. Diseases involving other body systems have also been described even in the absence of the classic GI symptoms. For uncertain reasons, there has been a recent dramatic increase in a less severe but contentious problem referred to as non-celiac gluten sensitivity, whose treatment is the same as for the classic disease, i.e. elimination of sources of gluten from the diet. 

We have discussed this type of food intolerance, among others in a longer poem that you can review HERE.

Authors' Note:  Graves' disease (often shortened by medical types to the ominous-sounding Graves' ), described by Robert Graves in 1835, is a common auto-immune disease that attacks the internal controls in the thyroid gland, and results in the overproduction of thyroid hormones. Significant symptoms result from hyperthyroidism, the hypermetabolic state that is produced.

Among several effective treatments, antithyroid drugs, taken over months or years, block production of these hormones, and often result in resumption of the euthyroid (normal) state.    

Requests from many health professionals, and layfolks as well, have come to fruition; there is now another followup post continuing this theme that you can easily access.  Click HERE for part #4 of 'Patients and their Maladies'.

Here's a LIST OF LINKS to collections of intriguing poems (over 200 of these!) on medical/dental topics, updated to December 2024. 

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 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.

AUG 10, 2023: CANADIANA #4 [5]

Following on with our penchant for all things Canadian, this post is a continuation of a collection of verses displayed here on August 10, 2020 (national anthems #1), August 10, 2021 (national anthems #2), and  August 10, 2022 (national anthems #3). 

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

(national anthems #1): Canadian spellings, speech borrowings, Canadian weather, Toronto/Buffalonian.

(national anthems #2): compassionate use, overwintering waterfowl, seniors hockey, joual, Canadian moose.

(national anthems #3): Kim Jong Un's visit, snow-biota, Canadian Thanksgiving, Haida Gwaii, prairie home.

(national anthems #4): z,z,z,z,z, fifty first state

                                    

CURRENT CONTENTS (#4)

Authors' Note:   We have the good fortune in Canada, in some instances, of choosing either standard British grammar or the American version thereof. In the US, the commonly employed past tenses are "creeped" and "leaped"; these would alter the rhyming of the poem's second and fourth lines. A US-compatible version of this poem is also in the works, and can be found HERE (link under construction).

Authors' Note:  The Canadian author regrets the unapologetic tone of this diatribe. See the verse speech borrowings. 

And, at this point, it's probably also relevant to recommend the "Imperialistic Trio" for which the above poem constitutes an important component.   

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

And as a later development, we put words to music. You can now sing along with the song "ROTTEN SPUDS (Newfoundland potato famine)" by proceeding to our blog "Silly Songs and Satire". Click HERE.

Note that the six stanzas of this "brief saga" can be found in more readily legible format on the blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense"; click HERE. 

And as a later development, we put words to music. You can now sing along with the song "CHEMAINUS, BC." by proceeding to our blog "Silly Songs and Satire". Click HERE.

CANADA ("National verse")

Note that the four stanzas of this "brief saga" can be found in more readily legible format on the blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense"; click HERE. 

Note that the six stanzas of this "brief saga" can be found in more readily legible format on the blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense"; click HERE.

And as a later development, we put words to music. You can now sing along with the song "AVIAN DIGESTION" by proceeding to our blog "Silly Songs and Satire". Click HERE.

Trent-Severn (Ontario nostalgia)

Great Lakes (Ontario nostalgia)

Franglais (savoir-faire)

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As of March, 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.

AUG 5, 2023: BINOMIAL EXPRESSIONS, second set of examples [6]

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. 

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 into calendar year 2026. 

As of March, 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. (Readers are advised, however, that advancing age and other factors have resulted in the gradual decline of 'daily' blog offerings to ten times per month). 

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.