Rightio, here we go. I decided to stick a pin in a map of Australia, since I'm going over there for a week - and that's how I discovered Burrundie (buh-RUN-dee).

All I know about Burrundie is that it's in the hot, dry Northern Territory. Googling it, the first site that comes up is Burrundie, Australia travel blogs and clicking on that the first page says Travel Blog Photos from Burrundie (0)

So ... give it a burl, Shirl, and send me some of your little rippers. If I don't respond for a few days, it doesn't mean I don't care, I'm probably just out shopping.

Since I've been dragged into this game kicking and screaming and frothing at the mouth, I've sent one to you, Stella.

The folks here at The Home who wear the white coats were really watching me closely as I muttered out loud bizarre syllables they'd never heard from a normal person, so if you don't hear from me for a while, I've been put away.

One on the way. I'll send more if I can find more words that rhyme with "dirt."

You're into humourous humus? Laughable loam? Titillating talus? Comedic compost?

Guffawing gravel
Cackling clay.
burlesqued basalt
slapstick soil
pleasant pavement
funny fill
merry marl
tittering turf
giggling glebe

Google's sat of Burrundie shows scrub
And then scrub, and more scrub and more scrub,
Lots more scrub, then more scrub
Scrub that's piled upon scrub
And then scrub and more scrub and a road.

Heh, heh! Sorry for dragging the chain on this competition - I can't get online easily and the hotel computer keeps throwing me out on account of "forbidden keywords" - whatever have you all been writing?!

I will get on to this as soon as I get back to NZ. You have a couple more days to enter - so rattle your dags, why don't you?!

I'm not sure what dags are. Is it OK to rattle them in public?

quote:

what dags are

drooping dugs?

Does Blondie know about Dagwood?

quote:

Dagwood?

A sub-unit of the Plasticwood Home

Or maybe Stella's channeling the late UN Secretary General http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dag_Hammarskj%C3%B6ld

Too obscure. I think she means this.

AOL?

BTW, Proofreader, you forgot about chert in your above list. Please do something about it. Example:

Daniel, wipe that chertoff your ( ) this minute!

I confess I am having a lot of trouble with this limerick...

Sorry about the delay, folks - I had a little bit of a hiccup. My husband, Dave, had to have an emergency cardiac stent a few days ago but he's home now and is OK. What a week!

... back to the limerick game - you know I kind of agree about the word choice, Richard - I don't think it was that great either. However I have got 3 good entries so it's possible. Shall we say 24hrs to give the stragglers a last chance?

PS: Rattle your dags (Urban Dict)
... meaning to hurry up. Has its origins in the crusted dry dags that gathered in the wool around a sheep's rear end. When dry and hardened they rattle when the sheep runs. Commonly prevented by what is called crutching or shearing the wool around the rear end of the beast.

Wow, Stella, that's quite the reason for the delay! Glad to hear all went well! Did this happen whilst on holiday?

As for dags, around here they're called dingleberries.

quote:

they rattle when the sheep runs

I was wondering what that sound was that I heard when I ran for the bus.

I've sent a couple now.

Oh, Stella...please give your husband a hug for us. Yes, that was quite a week!

Thanks all! Dave is fine now and actually heaps better than before when we didn't realise anything was wrong. I got a call from him when I was in Melbourne that he'd had a check up and they were flying him to Wellington for an angiogram. By the time I heard next, the angioplasty was done and the panic was all over. Phew!

Yes, it was quite a good excuse for stalling on the competition wasn't it - better than 'the dog ate my homework' anyway. Also, I don't know whether it was a sympathy reaction or not, but the entries went from 3 to 8 overnight - goodonya, guys! - so now we have a real contest.

I'll digest them with my carrot juice and boiled bean sprouts and get right back to you!

At long last ...

proof

Leaving Darwin, perhaps on a Mondie,
On Tuesday, you may reach Burrundie
Where there’s nothing but dirt
And the silence can hurt,
And no day there chalks up as a “fundie”.

Very nice, proof. This is classy and captures the bleakness of the Burrundie landscape. A line like “the silence can hurt” lifts the limerick to a whole new level – kudos to you for versatility! Also, one of the few (perhaps only) entry that had no spelling or punct errors - all that time on the OEDILF is definitely paying off, proof!


Kalleh

We drove my reliable Hundai
From Sydney to northern Burrundie.
Way down by the hill along
The fabulous billabong,
We ate lollies and even a sundae!

Nice one, Kalleh - you got an extra point for local flavour by incorporating the billabong. Hundai (Hyundai?) however, seemed a bit ambitious as a rhyming word for line one. Still it was a very cute picture, you trundling all the way across Australia from Sydney to Burrundie in a little car!

Asa

A naughty young lass from Burrundie
Had budgerigars nest in her undie
With the birds in her bush,
Quite a feathery tush
She displayed to a Canuk from Fundy

A comely colleen from Burrundie
Neglected her knickers last Monday
All the lads in the town
Soon went heads to the ground,
Including the vicar last Sunday.

Both of these delightful entries made me chuckle. Nice lateral thinking, Asa, especially the first one which is quite imaginative. Luckily for you the visuals compensate for the lack of punctuation - you’re forgiven for that this time, but even though they’re only limericks, the normal rules about commas and fullstops should still apply.


Richard

A hooker who worked in Burrundie
Said, "Why should I work through to Sunday?"
If I charge the same price
But let them them try twice
I could get all my work done in one day.

Richard, I nearly asked you if you wanted to delete one of the “them”s from L4 but then I wondered if that was a poetic device related to “trying twice” so I left it. Sorry if I’ve misjudged that – it’s a very nice limerick with labour-saving advice for anyone who’s listening.


Bob

"Weer yoe gooin?" 'e ast me on Sundee
"Ahm off on me 'ols ter Burrundie"
"I air never eerd,
Uh Burrundie", 'e jeerd.
"When yoe gooin?" "Tomorrer, on Mundee."

Translation
"Where are you going?" he asked me on Sunday.
"I am off on my holidays to Burundie"
"I have never heard
Of Burrundie." he jeered.
"When are you going?" "Tomorrow, on Monday."

Some hard-line evangelist fundies
Took one look at the state of Burrundie's
Relaxed moral code
Said, "We're hitting the road"
"There are too many folks with no undies."

In Perth, Baron Duncan of Lundie
Said, "I simply can't visit Burrundie,
For though I like to roam,
The Perth that's my home
Is the Scots one, not that one down-undie."

Great, Bob. I really liked the dialect limerick and also your innovative use of the limited rhyme scheme esp the diminutive fundamentalists, “fundies” - this one would have been a strong contender for the prize except that the plural ending was marginally cheating. “Down-undie” was also inspired.

... and the winner is .... little glitches notwithstanding, Asa wins the prize this week, on the strength of great plot and colouful characters. Goodonya, Asa!!

A worthy winner - although all were good (and most if not all of them better than mine)!

I agree. And let's have no cries of "I am not worthy" this time.

But, buttttt, I CAN'T WRITE LIMERICKS!!! I vote for Bob's. Please be the judge of the next round, Bob.

With his usual naughty stuff firmly in check, Proofreader produced the only one that was actually ABOUT Burrundie. Impressive!

I'll happily take a pm from you and give you my opinion on the contenders. You can pick the place though.

Incidentally Baron Duncan of Lundie was a real person who came from Perth.

OK, Bob, I'll select Winnipeg, and you can take it from here!

Winnipeg? Why not Lake Wangamoggachogagomaggaloggabogitcheogg?

Don't forget this thread.

Asa, you have now won twice, so I am afraid you'll have to admit it: You are a limerick writer. There's no shame in that.

Yes, I agree with Richard. There were some wonderful ones submitted with a not-so-easy word to rhyme. Mine probably belongs on the bottom of the pile.

quote:

Originally posted by Proofreader:
Winnipeg? Why not Lake Wangamoggachogagomaggaloggabogitcheogg?

Because I don't want to know what you do with your wang at the lake.

BTW, this afternoon as I sat in the electric shock therapy session at The Home I pondered whether Dopamine might be Carmine's retarded brother?

Oh, an added thought: If Winnipeg isn't acceptable, Bob, please pick one that works.

Much as I want to tell Asa not to weasel out of this , I know what he means – frankly, judging the next round never seemed like much of a prize to me either. It certainly isn’t the fun part of the competition.

How about we try judging by vote again (one vote per person and it doesn’t matter if there’s no clear winner) and anyone can nominate the next place??

Whoa! I should have put a "smiley" there. Winnipeg is fine with me. I can write badly about any city in the world, as I have successfully proven on numerous occasions. (I don't do Klingon)

quote:

frankly, judging the next round never seemed like much of a prize to me either. It certainly isn’t the fun part of the competition.

Well, diversity is the spice of life. I love being the judge!

quote:

(I don't do Klingon)

Aren't klingons similar to dags?

Winnipeg is fine.
I don't like the voting system as much as the picking a winner system. I'll happily help Asa pick one. Picking the winner isn't meant to be a prize. It's meant to continue the game. We could just as easily pick place names in alphabetical order of players. The limericks are the important thing.

Since I'm well over my head with these things, I'd be grateful if you would help, Bob.