I find learning new words a delight.
But my mind disagrees; it’s a fight!
Seems my crowded old brain
Deems such efforts a strain;
It evicts other words, just for spite.
Posts Tagged ‘Language Humor’
My Ornery Brain (Limerick)
Monday, June 9th, 2025Penniless Limerick
Sunday, June 1st, 2025Since production of pennies is ending,
Is it time for some idiom-mending?
Must the penny be spurned?
Nickel saved, nickel earned?
Dime for thoughts? Is “cute quarter” ascending?
My Wordy Admission (Limerick)
Friday, December 27th, 2024I’ll admit it: I’m one of those nerds
Who enjoy learning obsolete words,
Like “forswunk” which (I’m told)
Means exhausted. I’m old
And yes being forswunk’s for the birds.
Word Of The Year
Wednesday, November 27th, 2024
Anyone Else Have This Problem? (Limerick)
Monday, March 25th, 2024Ev’ry day, I attempt to learn words.
But my tries are, alas, for the birds,
Cuz each word I accrue
Makes my aging brain spew
At least two, thrust aside much like turds.
I’m Always Game To Play Word Games (Limerick)
Tuesday, December 19th, 2023Sundry word games are making me daft.
I pretend they’re improving my craft.
But I’ll play till I drop,
Though I know I should stop.
Now I’m drowning. Don’t laugh! Where’s my raft?
(Games Day falls each year on December 20th.)
Celebrate Cliché Day? No way!
Friday, November 3rd, 2023I’m compelled to condemn the cliché.
When I hear one, I’m rubbed the wrong way,
Also irked and annoyed.
They are best to avoid
Like the plague … at the end of the day.
(Cliché Day is always observed on November 3rd.)
The Confession (Limerick)
Wednesday, September 27th, 2023Said a gal to her closest friend Jean:
“Did you sleep with my boyfriend? Come clean!”
Jean confessed: “Don’t be pissed!
I told him, ‘Desist!’
Seems his language skills aren’t too keen.”
“JARGOGLE” Giggles (Limerick)
Tuesday, May 30th, 2023My mind is a jumble, confused
Because “jargogle’s” no longer used.
When a word’s fun to say,
It should NOT go away.
Its abandonment can’t be excused!
(JARGOGLE: An obsolete word that means to confuse, jumble, mix up.)
Puzzling Limerick
Sunday, January 29th, 2023It’s “National Puzzle Day,” which gives me a good excuse to post this limerick:
I never play Wordle in “hard mode.”
It feels like a feathered and tarred mode.
I would rather control
All my moves, on the whole.
It’s too bad they don’t offer a “bard mode.”
Happy “Word Nerd Day!” (Limerick)
Monday, January 9th, 2023It’s “National Word Nerd Day.” Yay!
I’m a “word nerd.” It’s true. Ev’ry day
I try to learn new words,
Recalling but few words;
In my brain they’re reluctant to stay.
It’s “National Dictionary Day!” (Limerick)
Sunday, October 16th, 2022It’s “National Dictionary Day,” which gives me a good excuse to post a limerick about another new-to-me term: “Dawn Chorus.”
(For the record, all the names have been changed to protect the guilty.)
“Let’s go back to that lovely ‘Fowl Inn,’”
Said my spouse, quite forgetting its din.
’Twas no use telling Boris
(A bull-headed Taurus)
That its dawn chorus drove us to gin.
*****
Happy birthday to American lexicographer Noah Webster, of dictionary compilation fame. He was born October 16, 1758.
Florid Failure (Limerick)
Wednesday, September 7th, 2022I use new-to-me words in my verse;
Vain attempts to cajole and coerce
My old brain into learning
Their meaning. But spurning
Those efforts, my mind makes me curse.
So I’m forced to confess with veracity
That I wish I had greater capacity
To remember cool words,
But my brain’s for the birds,
Which explains all my failed orchidacity.
Today’s Rhyming Challenge (Limerick)
Monday, September 5th, 2022Sometimes I challenge myself by using a hard-to-rhyme word in a limerick. In today’s case, it’s “latrinalia,” which means stuff written or drawn on bathroom walls.
Now before you say, “Lots of things rhyme with latrinalia, according to Rhymezone,” let me add that Rhymezone is WRONG!
Since the Final Stressed Syllable of latrinalia is NAL, true rhyme words must end in “alia” preceded by a Different Consonant, such as AuSTRalia, or mamMalia, or reGalia, or the two words I use in this limerick:
If you happen to read latrinalia,
You won’t find any sesquipedalia,
You’ll see swear words and gripes
Writ by marginal types,
But no poems inspired by Thalia.
Hotheaded Hugh (Limerick)
Wednesday, August 31st, 2022Since Wordsmith’s “Word of the Day” today is “Hotheaded,” I decided to use it in a limerick:
A hotheaded fellow named Hugh
Was irked by a huge check-out queue.
To disperse the long line
He yelled “Gun!” — the damn swine.
He wears stripes now; “lines” up the wazoo!
The Confused Mom-To-Be (Limerick)
Wednesday, August 24th, 2022A mother-to-be gave a shiver.
Her whole body was soon all-aquiver.
She sobbed: “As predicted,
My diet’s restricted.
Doc told me it’s time to de-liver.”
WordleBot Woes (3-Verse Limerick)
Thursday, July 21st, 2022The WordleBot’s frequently callous
And when rating my play displays malice.
It shows frequent ill will;
Credits luck, rarely skill.
So it MUST have a miniscule phallus.
A Wordle solution in three
Brings me joy, so I’ll murmur: “Yay, me!”
Then I check with the Bot,
Who reviews what I got
And dispels any feelings of glee.
When I (rarely) solve Wordle in two,
All I get is a snide “Whoop Dee Doo!”
What’s it take for a pat
On the back from that rat?
This goes on too much longer? I’ll sue!
Do You Sanction Contronyms? (Limerick)
Monday, June 6th, 2022Question: If someone says, “I sanction that sanction,” do you know what he means?
The word “sanction’s” an odd term to use
Cuz it’s prone to perplex and confuse.
It can mean an approval…
Or trade-list removal.
In other words: Good or bad news.
A Recipe For Trouble (Limerick)
Saturday, May 21st, 2022An annoying acquaintance loves roe
And dishes all covered in dough.
He’ll eat beef by the herd
And most any old bird,
But he’ll always refuse to eat crow.
Wordle Downers (Limerick)
Wednesday, May 4th, 2022Frustration’s a puzzling norm
When in word games like Wordle you’re warm:
You need one letter more
And you’re pissed to the core;
You’ve guessed “story” and “stork,” but it’s “storm.”
