OEDILFER

Oxily Hoxily
Editor Christopher
Dove into limericks.
It all takes time.

Lexicographical
Format was chosen. The
English of Oxford is
Rendered in rhyme.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jo,

Hello All!

My first (ever!) DD...

Muddling, Juggling,
Man and Neanderthal,
Have struggled to fathom
Sacred Feminine
Wooden clubs and posh pubs,
Have failed to impress her
Capitulatory,
He says, “You win!”

Any views expressed or implied are not necessarily those of the author!

Badger.

Clanishly, manishly
Unknowing masculines
Struggle in vain
Just to understand dames

Misunderstandingly
Think they speak English
But only a woman
Knows their linguistic games.

Well done and welcome, Badger! It's nervewracking posting your first ever DD somewhere public, isn't it?

I think you'll find we women aren't that difficult to understand; we just require understanding.

(Now, what's the betting that 90% of the women here instantly get it, while a similar number of men don't? )

Quote "...Now, what's the betting that 90% of the women here instantly get it, while a similar number of men don't?..."

Get what?

Exactly.

Furrily, purrily
Cat from the Black Country
Stands up for women
As surely she should.

We male exgratiates
Incomprehendingly
Try still to understand -
If only we could.

Fabulous, Richard! I love it

Welcome, Badger! Might you be from my home state, the Badger state?

Double dactyls aren't easy, but they sure are fun!

P.S. I got it Cat!

quote:

---

Originally posted by Richard English:
Furrily, purrily
Cat from the Black Country
Stands up for women
As surely she should.

We male exgratiates
Incomprehendingly
Try still to understand -
If only we could.

---

UNcomprehendingly, surely? And what's an "exgratiate", I couldn't find it in onelook though from the formation I'd have to surmise it's someone who receives payment (ex gratia) where no obligation exists which doesn't sound at all what you mean.
Sorry to be so picky.

Un? In? I'm not sure and am happy to be corrected.

Exgratiate is a made up word - supposed to be the opposite of ingratiate. In other words, one who's not "in the club".

Two neoligisms in one double dactyl? Is this a record?

Brinkery shrinkery
Sigmund Freud's followers
Probe the effects of the
Wordcrafter's art.

Thus we are learning that
Psychoanalysis
Pulls us together, or
Tears us apart.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jerry thomas,

Great, Jerry!

I am glad to see you keeping Richard honest, Bob.

Thanks for the welcome!

Kalleh - No, not from the Badger state, just the UK!

Cat - Hoping to fall into the 10%, but the sci-fi theme of this next one, might suggest the other 90!


Foolishly, Ghoulishly,
Anakin Skywalker,
Took his light sabre from
Light side to Dark,

Known later as Vader,
His son fell his caper,
Paterfamilias,
Losing his spark!

Not quite as happy with this one, suggestions?

Badger.

Well, Badger, several of us have been doing these for awhile, so I hate to be too hard on newbies. My first ones were atrocious. It is called a double dactyl so I am very religious about the dactyl meter, which is dum dah dah dum dah dah. Lines 1,2,3, 5, 6, 7, have that meter, while lines 4 and 8 should have the meter of dum dah dah dum, and lines 4 and 8 should rhyme.

Now, in yours, the first four lines, your 6-syllable word, and the 8th line are great! Lines 5, 6 aren't quite the right rhythm. Can anyone help him?

The UK??? Wow, we have so many from the UK now! From what part of the UK?

On the OEDILF site, Virge asked for double dactyls about OEDILF, so here is a particularly timely one:

Higgledy Piggledy
Post's Invitational
Puzzle this week is a-
Bout CJ's site.

Named "Limerixicon,"
Praises his project, and,
Enthusiastically,
Asks that you write!

Be sure to send your winning limerick to the Washington Post Style Invitational this week.

Who knows, you may win! I would just love the winner to be one of our posting members. In fact, I am offering a special prize if the winner is a poster from wordcraft community. So...go to it, guys!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

Badger, you are, officially, a PIG!

A little background: I've just come back from a quiz at a local pub, to which I had invited Karl and two other friends. Halfway through the night, one of them turned to me and said "Did you like the double dactyl?" Naturally I played it cool and answered in the affirmative while scanning my brain to try and work out what he was talking about, when it slowly dawned on me that I was talking to Badger himself. I HAD BEEN TRICKED!!! Oooh!!!

So in response to your question, Kalleh, Badger lives in the Midlands, like me, Karl and Bob. Not a native, though...

Bring on the next DD, Badger - I'm curious as to how this one will turn out!

Well, Bob has indirectly brought in a lot of you from the Midlands! Now, where is Badger originally from?

Yes Kalleh - I'll have to make sure he meets them all, since we have him to thank for leading me (and therefore Karl, Pazuzu & Badger) here! I'm working on several others too (at least one has already lurked), so fingers crossed that my powers of persuasion continue to work...

quote:

---

Originally posted by Cat:
Badger, you are, officially, a PIG!

---

So shameless a friend
To be so rude!
Time for something more macabre,
From the cloven hoofed!


Murderer, murderer,
Cardiac-glycoside's
Baffling chemistry,
Come to your aid,

To flicker the ticker,
Pharmacologically;
Digoxin ensures that,
Beats are delayed!

Badger.

Centrally, mentally
Those from the Black Country
Do love our language
That much is clear.

One thing is plain to me
Axiomatically
It's either the region
Or else it's the beer.

Both of yours, with a few nips & tucks here and there , are good! I agree, Richard, about the high quality of posters from the Black Country (called that because?....)

I must ask, Badger, are you from the medical field? I would love another health care colleague here!

Guilty as charged!

I'm a hospital based pharmacist. Interestingly, when I work as a resident in Derby I did a two week placement at UIC Hospital in Chicago!

Bizarrely linked to my DD, both hospitals have had self inflicted cases of digoxin poisoning, both little old ladies, one fell victim to homemade foxglove cookies, the other to foxglove tea!

(To those outside the medical professions - foxglove is in the spp. digitalis from which digoxin is made.)

When the foxglove cookie lady was back on her feet she brought in a tin of cookies to say thank you, but not one got eaten!

Badger

Why would anyone put foxgloves in cookies or tea??? And how did these little old ladies manage to stay alive for so long, being such a danger to themselves?

Anyway, here's a DD Karl & I collaborated on that we're entering in a Medusa poem competition (we'll let you know if we get anywhere). With thanks to Bob for the DD word - if it doesn't exist then it should! Spot the puns :

Medusa Sedusa,
Snake-headed Gorgon girl,
Eyes from which one look could
Kill you stone dead.

Perseus, with knowledge
Epiphaniacal,
Mirrored her cunning and
Chopped off her head.

BTW Kalleh, the Black Country is apparently so called because it used to be a mining community. I've heard that explanation many times, but don't know how much truth there is in it - there might be other reasons too.

This one may allude to my background.



-------------
the Black Country
noun

1. The industrialized West Midlands region of England, centred on Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

Etymology: 19c: from the smoke and grime produced by the heavy industries.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Pazuzu,

The cleverness of the double dactyl is important, along with a really perfect 6 syllable word.

However, I am a stickler for that double dactyl rhythm, Cat. It is one thing that sometimes is off a bit, and I think some people don't care as much as I do. So, I hope I don't offend, but I am going to point out a few areas in need of "nips and tucks."

Always think dum dah dah dum dah dah (in lines 1,2,3,5,6,7) and dum dah dah dum in lines 4 and 8.

For example, in Badger's great digoxin DD (BTW, Badger, I am a nurse, and we in the U.S. have lots of patients with digoxin toxicity, though usually because of other reasons.):

"To flicker the ticker" or "Digoxin ensures that" don't have that DD rhythm, though I am sure it could easily be revised. The rest of it is great, though!

In Richard's, "Do love our language" is only 5 syllables; "It's either the region" isn't quite the right rhythm, and "Or else it's the beer" has 5 syllables, not 4. However, again the rest is wonderful, and it is so clever.

Now, Cat, that brings us to yours for the contest. I have to say, I do love it, and I especially love Bob's word! Now, there is one little suggestion about rhythm, and that is: "Perseus, with knowledge" isn't quite right. Could you change it to "Knowledge of Perseus?" Would that still work? Also, do you Brits pronounce "mirrored" with 2 syllables, as "mir- rored?" If so, that works. I tend to say it with 1 syllable, and then it doesn't work.

With Paz's, is "tetrabranchiata" pronounced, tet-ra-branch-i-a-ta?

I know, I am such a perfectionist with these! It does tend to limit my creativity, I think.

We have some real budding talent!

I think you got me there Kalleh. My word is pronounced \Tet`ra*bran`chi*a"ta\, so I think the emphasis is Tet-RA-bran-CHI-a-ta?

Back to the drawing board. At least I'm nearer the correct form than last time.

Constructive criticism never offends me, Kalleh, although I'm curious as to why you addressed the second paragraph specifically to me when you then hardly criticized our DD at all! (not that I'm complaining )

Onto the suggestions you made: I agree that "Knowledge of Perseus" trips off the tongue much better than our original (which to a Brit tongue still has the right stresses: Per-se-us with know-ledge). The thing is that it then creates problems for lines 7 & 8, as "knowledge", rather than Perseus, becomes the subject of the following actions (mirroring and chopping) - and I like those too much to change them!

You're right about "mirrored" being a 2-syllable word over here ("mir-rud" is the best way I can describe its pronunciation without the benefits of phonetic symbols). I've been trying to pronounce it with just one, and it's really hard!

Oh, and in the first line, the reader just has to pretend that the stress in both words actually falls on the first syllable (it was the only way we could fit Medusa's name in - rather an important factor as the poem had to be about her ).

Incidentally, does anyone know of a resource of DD words? That's what really stumps me: finding a word that's actually relevant. The names can be hard too, but it's the words that often stop me in my tracks. I'm compiling a list that I add to whenever one springs to mind (or, more often, when one comes up unintentionally during a conversation, stopping me in my tracks as I say "Ooh! That's a DD word! Let me write that down!"). My list's not the longest in the world though, and needs feeding.

Cat: Incidentally, does anyone know of a resource of DD words?

Personally, my problem is finding the name. Anyway here's a partial list, to be continued, made from thumbing through my rhyming dictionary. I haven't been systematic above shorter words that can be padded with prefixes to make six syllables.

---

abecedarian aerostatatical aluminiferous anagrammatical antediluvian antemeridian anthropogenesis anthropographical antipathetical antiprotectionist apocalyptically apologetical aristocratical Aristotelian asexuality axiomatical bibliographical biblioman(ia)(iac) catechumenical collaterality colloquiality conceptuality conditionality congeniality conjecturality connubiality contemporan(eous)(ean) contemporarily conventionality conviviality corporeality counterinsurgency counterinsurgency counterintelligence counterintuitive developmentally devotionality diamondiferous dipsomaniacal disadvantageous(ness)(ly) disciplinarian dissatisfactory dissimilarity diversifiable duodecennial effectuality electrifiable elementality emolumentary emotionality encyclopedian ephemerality epigrammatical episcopalian essentiality ethereality exceptionality exemplifiable experimentalist experimentally experimentative extemporan(ean)(ous) extracurricular familiarity fantasticality fundamentality gastrointestinal genealogical heterogenesis heterological heterosexual homogeneity homogenetical horizontality humanitarian hypochondriacal identifiable idiomatical illiberality impartiality imperiality impersonality impertinacy importunacy impracticality inascertainable incomprehensibl(e)(y) incomprehensive(ly)(ness) incontrovertible indefatigable ineffervescable infinitesimal inhospitality inimicality insatiability instantaneity instrumentality integumentary interfamilial intermammalia interpretational intrafamilial irrationality irreconcilable irregularity irreprehensible kleptomaniacal lexicographical materiality Mediterranean megaloman(ia)(iac) Mephistophelean Mesopotamia misrepresentative misunderstandable molecularity monosyllabical multisyllabical municipality neoconservative nonconfrontational noncontroversial nonegenarian non-ministerial nonsatisfactory nonsensicality nonsingularity nonsymptomatical nyphomaniacal octogenarian organogenesis orientality originality osteogenesis ovovipaarity paradisiacal paraphernalia parliamentarian parochiality paronomasia parthenogenesis particularity peculiarity peninsularity perenniality phantasmagor(ia)(ical) physiographical polysylabical potentiality pragmaticality predestinarian primordiality proportionality proverbiality provinciality prudentiality pseudosophisticate pyromaniacal quinquagenarian radiotherapy reciprocality rectangularity representational sentimentality septuagenarian sequentiality sesquipedal(ian)(ity) simultaneity solidifiable spirituality substantiality supercelestial supersophisticate superterrestrial theatricality theophilanthro(py)(pist) totalitarian triangularity trigonometrical tripersonality ubiquitarian unascertainable uncategorical uncertifiable unclassifiable uncomplimentary uncontradict(able)(ably)(ory) uncontroversial undiplomatical uninterestingly universality unjustifiable unmathematical unpopularity unprecedented(ly)(ness) unproblematical unpunctuality unrecognizable unsatisfactory unsatisfactory unsatisfiable unsimilarity unsystematical utilitarian vernacularity veterinarian

Wow! Impressive, Hic!

Kalleh, although I'm curious as to why you addressed the second paragraph specifically to me when you then hardly criticized our DD at all! (not that I'm complaining )

Cat, I was merely addressing you because you were entering yours in a contest...so I thought you were ratcheting it up a level!

As for "mirrored," I pronounce it (probably wrongly!) "meered." I remember when I wrote a DD once, Bob asked about my word "world." I pronounce it as "were-uld," but he pronounces it as one syllable, thus throwing the whole meter off. In fact, when we visited him in England, he really does pronounce it with one syllable. For double dactyls (or limericks), those pronunciations across cultures can be a killer!

Trumpety, Trumpety
England's Elizabeth,
Loved by the British, re-
Spected here too.

Yet, we Americans,
Unmitigatedly,
Don't understand all the
Hullabaloo!

For those of you who are new here, every so often I develop a case of double dactylitis, and I believe I detect the symptoms (Badger, would a little foxglove help? ). Whenever I hear a 3-syllable dactyl, I race for pen and paper! Today, walking into a meeting someone said she was reading a book on Monica Lewinsky. "Monica," I thought. Hmmm, and "Hillary." Here it is:


Smokily Dopily
Monica, Hillary,
Bill's little concubines,
Not much alike.

H. is a senator,
M.'s making money, though,
Authoritatively,
Bill was a tyke.

[I had a much funnier one using the word "dyke," but when the dictionary called it "offensive," I decided to change it.]

...I haven't been systematic...

...nonconfrontational noncontroversial nonegenarian non-ministerial nonsatisfactory nonsensicality nonsingularity nonsymptomatical nyphomaniacal...

...not to mention "nonsystematically" !

I still have a special place in my heart for the "fourple-dactyl" paradichloroaminobenzaldehyde, which if repeated ad nauseam will completely fill the music of The Irish Washerwoman. (As will any eight consecutive double-dactyls, I s'pose.)

Wow Hic - that's fantastic! Thank you!

Names are difficult too - I've got your list from a previous thread, which is really helpful - but at least you can take more liberties with names...

***
Which reminds me: going off-subject ever so slightly, could somebody recommend a good rhyming dictionary? I've managed without up until now, but now I'm writing more verse, it'd be a good tool to have.
***

Where was I? Ah yes, I love your two DDs, Kalleh! I'm especially curious to know what your first, 'offensive' one was...

As for pronunciation, I have heard "mirrored" pronounced "meerd" (and "mirror" "meer") several times before in films, but I still can't quite copy the sound - or rather I can, but it still sounds like two syllables to me. I find it really fascinating how US and UK (and Antipodean) pronunciations can be so subtley different that we don't really notice that much until we write something and then find out it doesn't scan across the pond. For example, when I read the DD with the name "Charles" in it, on the first couple of readings I just couldn't get it to scan , until I remembered that some (all?) Americans pronounce it with two syllables - something like "Char-uls" - whereas we Brits pronounce it with one: just like "world". I said it with a (very bad ) American accent, and bingo! It scanned perfectly. And yet, before then, I'd just accepted the alternative pronunciation without giving much thought to it, and to how it might affect certain writing.

I'm waffling now, so I'll stop there.

I'm especially curious to know what your first, 'offensive' one was...

Well, she asked, right?

Second verse:

H. is a senator,
M.'s not so famous, though
Nymphomaniacally,
Neither's a dyke!

I still have a special place in my heart for the "fourple-dactyl" paradichloroaminobenzaldehyde

Now, Hic, how about a list of fourple-dactyls?

Badger, I bet you can write a really good double dactyl with Hab's fourple-dactyl!

How about this one in response to some of the sexist ones here:

Hoitily Toitily
Etiquette Emily
Writes about manners like
She's mother hen.

Now there's a new Post, and
Peter's his name, writing,
Oxymoronically,
'Manners for Men.'

Cat, Shu and I adore our "Whitfield's University Rhyming Dictionary," by Jane Shaw Whitfield and Edited by Frances Stillman (1951 Harper and Row). We think it is the best of anything we've seen. Ours is just really old, and I don't know if it is available. When I am not home, I use the online Rhymezone, though it could be better.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

The UK version of Amazon appear to have one copy left of it at http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0815200803/qid=1093428603/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_0_1/202-2921608-6302248. The US store appears to have a few more.

quote:

---

Badger, I bet you can write a really good double dactyl with Hab's fourple-dactyl!

---

I tried, but I couldn't find a medical use for it so I got a bit stuck! Sorry....

Badger

Higgeldy Piggeldy
Kalleh the Wordcrafter
Called for a DD of
Epic design.

Paradichloroa-
minobenzaldehyde
Calls for a word skill much
Greater than mine.

One-word comment, Jo.

¡Bravo-bravísimo!

~~~ jerry
(Pardon my Spanish!)

Higgledy Piggledy
Farmers of Iowa,
In between farming and
poetry torn,

Witness emergence of
Middens Maid Josephine
Whose double dactyls are
Taller than corn!

Wow, a double dactyl forum!

Here are a couple I wrote 20 years ago:

Barristry-Barrettry
Browning, Elizabeth,
Ponders in court as the
Evidence mounts.

Called to the stand, she asks
Jurisprudentially,
“How do I plead? Let me
Weigh all the counts.”


Flappity clappity
August von Wassermann
Bacteriologist.
Germany’s best.

Extracurricular
Heterosexual.
(Overpromiscuous.)
Flunked his own test.

To Chris: I am in awe. Those are glittering gems.

Quote: "Germany’s best ... overpromiscuous"
Would that be a matter of (ahem) Deutschlander uber alles?"

Thanks, uh, hic. I've written about fifty double dactyls that have appeared over the years in the New York Magazine Competition, Omni Magazine, Science Digest, the Washington Post (Style Invitational), and the Toronto Globe and Mail. I'll post a couple of them every now and then in this forum.

Welcome to the WordCraft Community, Chris.

You are obviously skilled at producing outstanding Double Dactyls. We're looking forward with pleasure to seeing more of your work.

If you have any questions about the Community, don't hesitate to call upon a Flight Attendant.

Welcome indeed, Chris.

I'm intimidated. But I still love to try writing Double Dactyls

Slithery Fithery
Jonathan Emerson
Studies the beasties that
Crawl on the ground.

Rhynchocephalian,
herpetological.
Lizards and snakes in his
Labs do abound.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chris Doyle:
Flappity clappity
August von Wassermann
Bacteriologist.
Germany’s best.

Extracurricular
Heterosexual.
(Overpromiscuous.)
Flunked his own test.

---

Brilliant! I don't know a thing about double dactyls, but even I can recognize and appreciate the impeccable meter and wit in this poem.

Tinman

Welcome to our forum, Chris!

Those DDs are exquisite. We're impatiently waiting for more!

Thanks to all for the kind words! Here are four more from the now defunct New York Magazine Competition. I’ve added the pseudonyms that appeared with them. (The two double dactyls I posted earlier were published in my own name, the first in Omni in 1980, the second in NYM in 1981.) NYM officially permitted only one entry per person, but the editor gave me (and probably others) a dispensation.

Debbie and Inger were co-workers at GAO and DoD, respectively. Louise Jackson is/was my mother (maiden name). Joan was the fiancée of my Deputy at DoD. Enjoy!

Jiggery pokery
Clifford, Lord Chatterley.
Cuckold and invalid,
Easy to con.

Nightly his lady’s with
Mellors the gamekeeper
Unexpurgatedly
Getting it on.

Debbie Bennett, NYC 1989 New York Magazine

Higgledy piggledy
Dr. Ruth Westheimer
Offers these sexual
Words to the wise:

“Men must remember that
Erotogenesis
Isn’t as matter of
Genital size.”

Inger Pettygrove, Charlottesville, VA 1997 New York Magazine

Higgledy piggledy
Little Red Riding Hood
Skips to a fate that she
Doesn’t deserve.

Lying ahead is an
Anthropophagical
Wolf for whom Grandma was
Just an hors d’oeuvre.

Louise Jackson, Fall River, MA 1989 New York Magazine

Tippeca grippeca
William H. Harrison
White House inhabitant,
Briefest to date.

Sworn into office with
Bronchopneumonia.
Thirty days later was
Lying in state.

Joan Ruttenberg, Rockville, MD 1997 New York Magazine

Treasurely Measurely,
Ingrid the Viking Maid
Watched as her Svenska sailed
Off, brave and bold.

Lindesfarm met him with
Inhospitality.
Nevertheless he came
Back with the gold.