Posts Tagged ‘Language Humor’
Saturday, June 20th, 2020
It’s Limerick-Off time, once again. And that means I write a limerick, and you write your own, using the same rhyme word. Then you post your limerick(s) as a comment to this post and, if you’re a Facebook user, on Facebook too.
I hope you’ll join me in writing limericks using SOLE or SOUL at the end of any one line. (Homonyms or homophones are fine.)
The best submission will be crowned Limerick-Off Award Winner. (Here’s last week’s Limerick-Off Award Winner.)
Additionally, you may write themed limericks related to WEAPONS, using any rhyme word. And of course I’ll present an extra award — one for the best WEAPON-related limerick.
How will your poems be judged? By meter, rhyme, cleverness, and humor. (If you’re feeling a bit fuzzy about limerick writing rules, here’s my How To Write A Limerick article.)
I’ll announce the winners on July 5, 2020, right before I post the next Limerick-Off. So that gives you two full weeks to submit your clever, polished verse. Your submission deadline is Saturday, July 4, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time.)
Here’s my SOLE/SOUL-rhyme limerick:
When I ordered a French Dover sole,
My fish-dish arrived in a bowl.
“What’s THIS? Why no PLATE?”
I shouted, irate.
(My new rating is “Dinnerware Troll.”)
And here’s my WEAPONS-themed limerick:
What’s my weapon of choice? It is words.
Guns and rifles and knives? For the birds!
Kill or maim? Not my aim.
(Please don’t make me shoot game!)
I’m just one of those bookwormy nerds.
Please feel free to enter my Limerick-Off by posting your limerick(s) in my comments. And if you’re on Facebook, I hope you’ll join my friends in that same activity on my Facebook Limerick-Off post.
To receive an email alert whenever I post a new Limerick-Off, please email Madkane@MadKane.com Subject: MadKane’s Newsletter. Thanks!
Tags: Bookworms, Competition Limerick, Dinnerware, Fish Humor, Fish Limerick, Food Humor, Gun Humor, Language Humor, Limerick Challenge, Limerick Contest, Poetry & Prompts, Restaurant Humor, Sole, Trolls, Weapon Humor, Weapons, Writing Prompts
Posted in Behavior & Personality, Contests, Food & Drink Humor, Limerick & Haiku Prompts, Limerick Competition, Limerick Contest, Limerick Writing Contest, Limerick-Offs, Limericks, Poetry & Prompts, Poetry Contest, Weapons Humor | 88 Comments »
Saturday, September 14th, 2019
I just stumbled onto the new-to-me word FRATER: the dining room or refectory of a monastery. (Yes, I should have known it from “fraternal,” but I didn’t.) And as soon as I realized it’s a homophone type homonym of FREIGHTER, I felt compelled to write a limerick:
Don’t confuse the word “freighter” with “frater.”
One transports you; the latter will cater
To cuisine-needs monastic.
(I doubt it takes plastic.)
I’ll postpone further lessons for later.
Tags: Homonym Poems, Homophones, Language Humor, Language Limerick
Posted in Language Humor, Limericks | 1 Comment »
Saturday, September 7th, 2019
It’s Limerick-Off time, once again. And that means I write a limerick, and you write your own, using the same rhyme word. Then you post your limerick(s) as a comment to this post and, if you’re a Facebook user, on Facebook too.
I hope you’ll join me in writing limericks using NOTE at the end of any one line. (Homonyms or homophones are fine.)
The best submission will be crowned Limerick-Off Award Winner. (Here’s last week’s Limerick-Off Award Winner.)
Additionally, you may write themed limericks related to GRAMMAR, using any rhyme word. And of course I’ll present an extra award — one for the best GRAMMAR-related limerick.
How will your poems be judged? By meter, rhyme, cleverness, and humor. (If you’re feeling a bit fuzzy about limerick writing rules, here’s my How To Write A Limerick article.)
I’ll announce the winners on September 29, 2019 right before I post the next Limerick-Off. (Due to my travel schedule you’ll have one extra week to submit your clever, polished verse.) Your submission deadline is Saturday, September 28, 2019 at 10:00 p.m. (Eastern Time.)
Here’s my NOTE-rhyme limerick:
A man who was singing by rote
Kept hitting an out of tune note.
But nobody cared;
Instead, they just stared.
He was cute, which “earned” everyone’s vote.
And here’s my GRAMMAR-themed limerick:
A woman encountered an ad
Whose grammar was markedly bad.
So she dashed off a note
To the sponsor and wrote:
“Are you even a middle school grad?”
Please feel free to enter my Limerick-Off by posting your limerick(s) in my comments. And if you’re on Facebook, I hope you’ll join my friends in that same activity on my Facebook Limerick-Off post.
To receive an email alert whenever I post a new Limerick-Off, please email Madkane@MadKane.com Subject: MadKane’s Newsletter. Thanks!
Tags: Advertising Humor, Bad Singing, Competition Limerick, Education & School Humor, Grammar Humor, Grammar Limerick, Language Humor, Language Limerick, Limerick Challenge, Limerick Contest, Music Humor & Verse, Poetry & Prompts, School Humor, Singing Humor, Singing Limerick, Sponsor Humor, Writing Prompts
Posted in Behavior & Personality, Contests, Education & School Humor, Language Humor, Limerick & Haiku Prompts, Limerick Competition, Limerick Contest, Limerick Writing Contest, Limerick-Offs, Limericks, Music Humor & Verse, Music Poems, Physical Appearance, Poetry & Prompts, Poetry Contest | 155 Comments »
Wednesday, July 10th, 2019
Thanks to Dictionary.com for inspiring this “eye-minded” limerick:
My husband Mark tends to be eye-minded.
As for me, I’m more aural and rhyme-minded.
While Mark will observe
Most sightings with verve,
I don’t, unless helpfully “high”-minded.
Tags: Aural Humor, Dictionary Humor, Eyes Limerick, Hearing Humor, Language Humor, Rhyming Humor, Sight Humor, Stoned Humor, Vision Limerick
Posted in Language Humor, Limericks, Vision Humor | Comments Off on Minding Eyes And Ears (Limerick)
Monday, May 13th, 2019
JOMO is Dictionary.com’s Word of the Day, which prompted this acronym rant:
I’m annoyed by the acronym FOMO,
As well as its opposite, JOMO.
“Missing out” is MO’s meaning.
FO’s “fear.” Are you gleaning
That JO connotes “joy?” Kindly, NOMO!
(NOMO means “no more.”)
Tags: Acronym Humor, Acronym Limerick, Acronyms, FOMO, JOMO, Language Humor, NOMO, Word of the Day, WOTD
Posted in Language Humor, Limericks, Wordplay | Comments Off on Irked By Acronyms (Limerick)
Monday, April 15th, 2019
Dictionary.com celebrated Tax Day today with this new-to-me word: Gabelle.
1 a tax; excise.
2 French History. a tax on salt, abolished in 1790.
Payers never respond with a smile
To taxes, which anger and rile.
Salty words greet gabelles;
Taxing salt rarely sells,
And in France it has gone out of style.
Tags: Gabelle Humor, Language Humor, Language Limerick, Money & Finance Humor, Money Limerick, Tax Humor, Tax Limerick
Posted in Language Humor, Limericks, Money & Finance Humor, Tax & IRS Satire | Comments Off on Go To Hell, Gabelle! (Limerick)
Wednesday, June 20th, 2018
With language I’ve never been fickle,
But when told that I frequently stickle,
As I fight over usage
And language-abusage,
I’ll deny it as any tough chick’ll.
Tags: Language Humor, Language Limerick, Stickler Humor, Writing and Publishing Humor
Posted in Language Humor, Limericks, Writing & Publishing Humor | Comments Off on What Me? A Stickler?
Saturday, May 12th, 2018
It’s Limerick-Off time, once again. And that means I write a limerick, and you write your own, using the same rhyme word. Then you post your limerick(s) as a comment to this post and, if you’re a Facebook user, on Facebook too.
I hope you’ll join me in writing limericks using CAN at the end of any one line. (Homonyms or homophones are fine.)
The best submission will be crowned Limerick-Off Award Winner. (Here’s last week’s Limerick-Off Award Winner.)
Additionally, you may write themed limericks related to GIFT-GIVING, using any rhyme scheme. And of course I’ll present an extra award — one for the best GIFT-GIVING related limerick.
How will your poems be judged? By meter, rhyme, cleverness, and humor. (If you’re feeling a bit fuzzy about limerick writing rules, here’s my How To Write A Limerick article.)
I’ll announce the winners on May 27, 2018, right before I post the next Limerick-Off. So that gives you two full weeks to submit your clever, polished verse. Your submission deadline is Saturday, May 26, 2018 at 10:00 p.m. (Eastern Time.)
Here’s my limerick:
People often mix “can” up with “may,”
Never knowing which one they should say.
“Yes, you may?” “Yes, you can?”
Why not can it and ban
Their distinctions? The sticklers say “Nay!”
Please feel free to enter my Limerick-Off by posting your limerick(s) in my comments. And if you’re on Facebook, I hope you’ll join my friends in that same activity on my Facebook Limerick-Off post.
To receive an email alert whenever I post a new Limerick-Off, please email Madkane@MadKane.com Subject: MadKane’s Newsletter. Thanks!
Tags: Competition Limerick, Grammar Humor, Grammar Limerick, Language Humor, Language Limerick, Limerick Challenge, Limerick Contest, Poetry & Prompts, Writing Prompts
Posted in Behavior & Personality, Contests, Language Humor, Limerick & Haiku Prompts, Limerick Competition, Limerick Contest, Limerick Writing Contest, Limerick-Offs, Limericks, Poetry & Prompts, Poetry Contest | 161 Comments »
Thursday, December 10th, 2015
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.
Tags: Brain Humor, Language Humor, Language Limerick, Memory Humor, Memory Limerick, Words
Posted in Language Humor, Limericks | Comments Off on A Word Lover’s Woes (Limerick)
Thursday, November 19th, 2015
A 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.
Tags: Antimeria, Language Humor, Language Limerick, Writing & Publishing Humor
Posted in Language Humor, Limericks, Writing & Publishing Humor | 1 Comment »
Friday, October 16th, 2015
It’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.
Tags: Aging Humor & Verse, Brain Humor, Dictionary Day, Language Humor, Memory Humor, Noah Webster, October Holidays, Odd Holidays
Posted in Birthday Verse, Language Humor, Limericks, Memory Humor, Odd Holidays | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, January 20th, 2015
Word 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.
Tags: January Holidays, Language Humor, National Word Nerd Day, Odd Holidays, Writing & Publishing Humor
Posted in Language Humor, Limericks, Odd Holidays, Writing & Publishing Humor | Comments Off on Word Hoarder (Limerick)
Thursday, September 25th, 2014
Do 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.
Tags: Communication Humor, Grammar Humor, Grammar Limerick, Language Humor, Language Limerick, Pronoun Humor, Reflexive Pronouns, Syntax Humor
Posted in Communication Humor, Language Humor, Limericks, Writing & Publishing Humor | 1 Comment »
Thursday, May 15th, 2014
Cursing’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!
Tags: Cursing Limerick, Expletive Humor, Foul Language, Health & Medical Humor, Health Limericks, Language Humor, Science Humor, Scientific Studies, Scientific Study Humor, Scientists Humor, Swearing Verse
Posted in Bawdy Limericks, Behavior & Personality, Communication Humor, Health & Medical Humor, Health Verse, Language Humor, Limericks, Science Humor | Comments Off on Cursing’s Healthy, I Swear (Limerick)
Thursday, December 26th, 2013
A recent Washington Post Style Invitational contest asked us to “suggest some new movie ratings to warn against various objectionable aspects of films.”
Here are my entries, one of which won me Second prize. Yippee!!! Can you guess which? (The answer will appear “upside down” at the end of this post.)
Rated BYOJ: A comedy so unfunny, you should “Bring Your Own Jokes.”
Rated DDM: “Dreadful Dramatic Music” can’t disguise the lack of a plot.
Rated THU: Too Hard to understand.
Rated WEF: Weird Enough to be Foreign.
Rated PGD: Rated “Please Get Dressed” because it features barely clad actors who don’t exercise enough.
Rated WOR: Way Over-Rated.
Rated DBG: “Don’t Bring your Girlfriend,” if you ever want to see her again.
Rated TVEFQT: Too Violent Even For Quenton Tarantino.
Rated P2BP: Pretending to be Profound.
Rated ZZZ: Impossible not to sleep through.
Rated SHIT: Stay Home. It’s Terrible.
And here (in upside down form) is the entry that won Second Prize:
˙uƃıǝɹoɟ ǝq oʇ ɥƃnouǝ pɹıǝʍ :ɟǝʍ pǝʇɐɹ
You can read all the winning entries here.
Tags: Contests, Film Humor, Films, Language Humor, Movie Ratings Humor, Movies Humor, Washington Post Style Invitational
Posted in Contests, Language Humor, Limericks, Movie & Play Humor | 1 Comment »
Friday, December 13th, 2013
A 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
Tags: Contests, Fake Bank Heads, Language Humor, News Humor, Washington Post Style Invitational
Posted in Contests, History Humor, Language Humor, News Humor | 2 Comments »
