My hunger for words is voracious,
And I’ve just learned a new one: “fugacious.”
It means “fleeting,” I’ve read,
But it soon will have fled
From a brain insufficiently spacious.
Posts Tagged ‘Language Humor’
A Word Lover’s Woes (Limerick)
Thursday, December 10th, 2015Anti-Antimeria, No More? (Limerick)
Thursday, November 19th, 2015A Slate language column by Katy Waldman has me re-thinking my anti-antimeria stance. (Antimeria is a “rhetorical device that repurposes a word as a different part of speech than usual.”)
Her column makes some solid points about antimeria’s advantages. In fact, the device may even prove to be handy for humor writing.
Katy’s viewpoint may generate frowns:
Turning nouns into verbs, verbs to nouns
Is extolled by that writer.
Though some may indict ’er,
The thought ain’t as bad as it soun’s.
Dictionary Day (Limerick)
Friday, October 16th, 2015It’s National Dictionary Day, created in honor of Noah Webster’s birthday.
I attempt to learn new words each day–
At least one, sometimes two, but they stray;
Seems as new words are learned,
The old ones are spurned:
“You’re evicted!” those brain-hoggers bray.
Sanctioning The Word “Sanction” (Limerick)
Saturday, September 19th, 2015The word “sanction” is terribly flawed
Cuz its usage goes well beyond broad.
If you say that my act
Has been sanctioned, redact:
Did you penalize me, or applaud?
Oy Vey Iz Mir! (Limerick)
Wednesday, March 25th, 2015Oy Vey Iz Mir!
By Madeleine Begun Kane
The gist of the Yiddish “oy vey”
Is nothing like “hip hip hooray.”
At times it is mere
Annoyance that’s here,
And at other times utter dismay.
Word Hoarder (Limerick)
Tuesday, January 20th, 2015Word Hoarder (Limerick)
By Madeleine Begun Kane
With words, I am rather a hoarder.
My brain is a language importer.
Is it all for the birds?
How I long for my words
To arise in a risible order.
UPDATE: I just found out that January 9th was National Word Nerd Day.
Me, Myself, & I (Limerick)
Thursday, September 25th, 2014Do you cringe when people incorrectly use the reflexive pronoun “myself” instead of “me?”
Myself too! (And yes, I was joking.)
Misuse of “myself” is widespread.
It’s an error that people should shed.
To reflexively use it
And often abuse it
May stop you from getting ahead.
Cursing’s Healthy, I Swear (Limerick)
Thursday, May 15th, 2014Cursing’s Healthy, I Swear (Limerick)
By Madeleine Begun Kane
New research, Brit experts declare,
Has revealed that it’s healthy to swear.
So you damn SOBs,
No more slamming my ease
With the expletive. Carpers beware!
Fun With News Headlines
Friday, December 13th, 2013A recent Washington Post Style Invitational contest asked us to find a REAL headline in any publication, and “then write a ‘bank head’ that reinterprets the headline or comments wryly on it.”
Here are my entries, one of which got an Honorable Mention. Can you guess which? (The answer will appear “upside down” at the end of this post.)
Obama scoffs at people who call him a ‘socialist’
Socialists file libel suit
Saudi Arabian man arrested for giving out free hugs
“What? I should charge for them?” says Saudi hugger
Adam Levine is ‘People’ mag’s Sexiest Man Alive
People demand second opinion
Meet Magnus Carlsen, the ‘Justin Bieber’ of chess
Hunky Norwegian seeks World Chess, World Chest championships
Strand Bookstore ‘uses sprinklers to evict homeless’
Homeless thank Strand for first shower in years
Jake Gyllenhaal Punches Mirror on Set
In “fairest of them all” title dispute
Kidnapped Girl Found After 19-Year Manhunt
A girl-hunt might have been faster
Apple and Google “Dog Fight”
Pet-lovers stage boycott
Some Doctors Challenge New Statin Guidelines
Claim “whoever did the math must be on drugs”
Beaver steals hunter’s rifle
Pleads self-defense
Rob Ford stripped of key powers
Ford strips in protest, powers hurriedly restored
Belief is more powerful than proof
Prove it!
Dow, S&P close at new highs
Fox News explains why this is bad news for Obama
The Rules for Eating Lunch at Your Desk
Rule 1: Don’t!
Ted Turner wants to go to heaven
Clarifies: “No rush! Heaven can wait.”
Amazon Deforestation Rises
Increased e-book sales will reverse trend, Amazon claims
Chicago woman hopes to turn things around after 396 arrests
The 397th time’s the charm
Robots Allow Doctors To Remotely Advise, Diagnose Patients
Shrug off blame for “epidemic of golf course overcrowding”
Head defends dialect ban in class
Body disagrees
Dog Predicts Polar Bear Pregnancy
Denies paternity
Train Heading to NYC Goes Wrong-Way, Ends Up in Philly Suburbs
Stubborn conductor refuses to stop, ask for directions
McDonald’s restaurant turns to opera to drive out loitering teenagers
“Gounod’s Faust drives those devils out in five minutes flat,” says manager
Dinosaur Fossils Recreated Using CT Scanners and 3D Printers
Had great old time “doing it”
Rep. Trey Radel busted in cocaine sting
Poised to challenge Toronto’s Rob Ford in ’14 mayoralty race
Costco sorry for labeling Bibles as ‘fiction’
Relabels Bibles “sci-fi”
And here (in upside down form) is the entry that received an Honorable Mention:
„ɥsnɹ ou„ :sǝıɟıɹɐןɔ
uǝʌɐǝɥ oʇ oƃ oʇ sʇuɐʍ ɹǝuɹnʇ pǝʇ
:pɐǝɹ oʇ sɐ os ʇnɔ sɐʍ ʇı ‘ɹǝʌǝʍoɥ„˙ʇıɐʍ uɐɔ uǝʌɐǝɥ ¡ɥsnɹ ou„ :sǝıɟıɹɐןɔ
uǝʌɐǝɥ oʇ oƃ oʇ sʇuɐʍ ɹǝuɹnʇ pǝʇ
Snopes Definitely Won’t Back Me Up
Thursday, December 5th, 2013I love learning about the origin of words and phrases. But sometimes you just have to make things up:
1) In the first draft of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” Ebenezer Scrooge said “Bach! Humbug!” (Dickens despised Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.) But Dickens’ editor was worried about lawsuits and changed it to “Bah! Humbug!”
2) The second chair bass player of a now defunct symphony orchestra fantasized about playing first chair bass and marrying the principal bass player’s wife. When pulling strings didn’t work, he tried a different technique — poison. And that’s how he “got to first bass.”
3) In the early days of Broadway theater, actors had a bad habit of showing up for rehearsals dead drunk. Frustrated directors finally struck a deal with Actors’ Equity, which required actors to arrive at dress rehearsals sober. These final run-throughs were designated “dry runs.”
4) “Your Number’s Up” is a prize-winning tale about a society that murders its citizens on their 86th birthdays. The story climaxes with a revolt by the elderly, who “86″ their would-be killers.
5) Philosopher René Descartes was a boating fanatic with a speech defect. This led him to be credited with saying “Je pense, donc je suis” (“I think, therefore I am.”) Alas, what he really said was “Je punt, donc je suis.” But people were so impressed with what they thought he’d said, that he never bothered to correct them. This paid off in dividends, allowing him to purchase more than a dozen shallow water punts.
6) When people are “down in the dumps,”
They’ve been saddened by life’s little bumps.
But that phrase’s first sense
(Please do NOT take offense)
Was “plunged in what comes from our rumps.”
(I wrote these in response to a Washington Post Style Invitational contest that challenged us to write “bogus stories of the origins of familiar expressions.” You can read the winning entries here. And alas, I didn’t win.)
