I have written a limerick for OEDILF, and the last line reads:

"A beautiful bag she will don."

The workshopper says that "don" is incorrect and that I should change it to "put on." Yet when I look up "don," one definition is "put on." Does "don" make sense in that context or is "put on" better?

I know that neither is perfect, but it is a limerick after all. Were this a formal paper, of course I'd change the wording completely.

My linguistics professor said "don" evolved from "do on" just as "doff" came from "do off."

But if you choose to yield to your critic, "A beautiful bag she'll put on" might do.

Bah - the workshopper is being silly. Don makes perfect sense!

Chris Strolin is just too picky

Don sounds fine to me. Remember that one workshopper's opinion is just that. You don't have to take suggestions. I only take them if I believe they are useful. This one I'd probably not take, though to my English ears neither "don" nor "put on" quite fits with "bag" as I wouldn't associate wearing with a bag, and don doesn't really quite mean carrying.

Stick to your guns though.

Bah, it's a river in Russia, so if she wants to put on a river, fine by me! And "Don" in Russian looks like something Homer Simpson would say, so hit 'em with "Дон" and see how they like it.

The Godfather is a "don", so she wants to put on Marlon Brando?

Speaking of Homer Simpson, a legal blog reports an Australian judge has ruled that cartoons showing Homer and his sister having sex are not covered under trademark or copyright laws. Instead they fall under the child porn statutes and anyone possessing them goes to the slammer.

What about Mickey and Minnie Mouse? Is that bestiality?

They should be kept under surveillance by the mice squad and put under mouse arrest.

Don we now our gay apparel...

That covers gear and equipment as well. Certainly a bag, especially a shoulder bag or a purse, qualifies.

Better yet, if it was a macrame bag, then you could don knots

Note well that one dons a paper bag quite differently from the way one dons a shoulder bag.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Myth Jellies,

quote:

Better yet, if it was a macrame bag, then you could don knots

If the bag were worn, would he carry it? I'm a frayed knot.

quote:

The workshopper says that "don" is incorrect and that I should change it to "put on."

A few months ago I was doing research on spacesuits. The verbs most commonly used in the literature for putting on and taking off an EMU* were don and doff.

*Extravehicular Mobility Unit

Interesting, neveu.

Well, after these posts I've decided to leave it as is, and if it stays in limbo, so be it. Bob, we generally say "carrying a purse," too, but that wouldn't fit in the limerick without a total rewrite. Since people can understand what is meant, I don't see the problem.

I wasn't suggesting that there was a problem, just that it's not something I'd say or something commonly heard over here.