Uncle Ned
Old Uncle Ned, a likable fellow was he
An affable charmer, the cousins agreed
He made the kids laugh
For his jokes were quite daft
Made us wonder what was in his tea!
~kat
NaPoWriMo2023 Challenge Day Fifteen: think of a person – real or imagined – who has been held out to you as an example of how to be of live, but who you have always had doubts about. Write a poem that exaggerates the supposedly admirable qualities of the person in a way that exposes your doubts.
poetic justice
there once was a shyster named Don
a scammer in chief, a vile con
to court he was dragged
by a porn star he shagged
how climactic, his just denouement!
~kat
A limerick today…straight from the headlines! You can’t make this stuff up! I shouldn’t be enjoying this, but I am. I can’t look away. Not sure I captured the theme…but the past few years have been over the top inappropriate. Hoping this brings a little levity to this absurd train wreck!
NaPoWriMo 2023 Challenge Day 5: write a poem in which laughter comes at what might otherwise seem an inappropriate moment – or one that the poem invites the reader to think of as inappropriate.
Not sure what Limburger cheese thinks about how its odiferous essence affects diners, but I have heard that if you can get past the smell, the cheese itself is delightfully nutty and sweet! Adding “Try Limburger cheese at least once before I die…even if it kills me!” to my bucket list. heehee!
A Cheesy Limerick
From the Duchy of Limburg, now Liège
hails a much controversial cheese
though it smells like foul feet
it tastes nutty and sweet
slap a slice between rye if you please!
~kat
Na/GloPoWriMo2022 - Day 20 Prompt: write a poem that anthropomorphizes a kind of food.
Vicar on Fire!
A vicar from Plymouth, his parish, St. Budeaux
gave his virtual flock quite the spirited show
as he paused for a prayer
brushed a wick, unaware
then he ended his sermon with “stop, drop and roll”!
~kat
True Story: Coronavirus Vicar Accidentally Sets Arm on Fire While Recording His First Virtual Service. A Limerick seemed to be the perfect form for today’s NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo Challenge Day 7 prompt: Write a poem based on a news article.
Today’s word of the Day on dictionary.com is demonym. It is defined as “the name used for the people who live in a particular country, state, or other locality: Two demonyms for the residents of Michigan are Michigander and Michiganian.”
Its origin from dictionary.com:
The name noun demonym is clearly from the Greek dêmos, “people, common people, common soldiers, (as opposed to officers) popular government, democracy, district, country, land.”. The second part of the word comes from Greek dialect (Doric, Aeolic) ónyma, a variant of ónoams “name” s very common in compounds like antonym and pseudonym. It entered English in the late 20th Century.
From Wikipedia:
National Geographic attributes the term “demonym” to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990.[10] The word did not appear for nouns, adjectives, and verbs derived from geographical names in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary nor in prominent style manuals such as the Chicago Manual of Style. It was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals.[11] However, in What Do You Call a Person From…? A Dictionary of Resident Names (the first edition of Labels for Locals)[12] Dickson attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names’ Names: A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon (1988),[1] which is apparently where the term first appears. The term may have been fashioned after demonymic, which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as the name of an Atheniancitizen according to the deme to which the citizen belongs, with its first use traced to 1893.
I discovered that there official or common demonyms and then there are colloquial demonyms. For example, someone from the USA is officially an American or a Yankees or Yanks; Zimbabweans are also called Zimbos; the French are Frogs or Gauls; Faulkland Islanders are Belongers; Costa Rican’s are Ticos; and Canadians are Canucks. Here in the states we have Buckeyes (Ohioans), Ice Chippers (Alaskans), and Cheeseheads ( Wisconsinites). You can see a comprehensive list on Wikipedia, HERE.
There is an unspoken rule when crafting a demonym. If you’re stuck, go with what the locals call themselves.
Normally I do a Haiku but given the word of the day I am thinking only a limerick will do.
There once was a dude from the hood
Who lived life upstanding and good
Now he was no gangster
Say bro, he might answer
But demonyms fall short as they should
~kat
like mercury colliding... 