As I'm going there on holiday next month.

Hi Bob,

As far as I am concerned this harder to rhyme than Sassafras. To my way of thinking the emphasis is on the 1st syllable, so TAI-wan. That means all 3 A-Rhymes have to rhyme with TAI and end in wan. At this point the only valid rhyme I can manufacture is at the end of line 2:

I holidayed once in Taiwan
A place I decided I wan-
na go back to some day,
But there isn't a way
To make a last line to rhyme on.

quote:

Originally posted by Greg S:
Hi Bob,

As far as I am concerned this harder to rhyme than Sassafras. To my way of thinking the emphasis is on the 1st syllable, so TAI-wan. That means all 3 A-Rhymes have to rhyme with TAI and end in wan. At this point the only valid rhyme I can manufacture is at the end of line 2:

I holidayed once in Taiwan
A place I decided I wan-
na go back to some day,
But there isn't a way
To make a last line to rhyme on.

Might be first syllable stress for you but it's second for me taiWAN so you can rhyme it with con, don, gone, upon, one, or da-doo-ron-ron

Second syllable for me, too.

Trying to write the last line of one.

There was a young man of Taiwan
Said, “It’s hard but I will think upon
How to rhyme this place name
For the sake of the game
And return with a limerick anon.”

Show-off! :P

Unlike my effort for Rye, which was none too wry, I managed to pry a spry one from my scrambled synapses this time.

I expect several good ones from CJ Strollin, Haberdasher, Shufitz, bethree5, Proofreader, Jerry Thomas, Wordmatic, Aput, Goofy, Museamuse, Stella, Sattva, Kalleh, Greg, et al.

quote:

Originally posted by Geoff:I expect several good ones from CJ Strolin [one l, thank you], Haberdasher, … et al.

I went to the beginning of this thread to review the contest rules and was surprised to discover that I had kicked things off myself over 16 years ago. I assume things have changed during that time, so I would appreciate an update ref deadlines, where to submit entries, etc.

Limericks are based on locations, whether countries, regions, cities, or your favorite watering hole. The author of the with the most votes gets to pick the next destination subject for the limerick. In this case, that's Bob Hale. In case of tie, the OP breaks it with his/her/its, their vote. Send the OP a private message with your limerick(s) and he/she/it/they will post them all at once. Alas, the majority here prefer to vote using a poll function for voting. Use it if you wish. Others prefer just openly stating which is their favorite, with comments as to why, in a regular posting manner.

We know you're a master-punster, so we know competition will be stiff - especially from our dead members.

Geoff, AKA Asa Lovejoy in times long past

quote:

Might be first syllable stress for you but it's second for me taiWAN so you can rhyme it with con, don, gone, upon, one, or da-doo-ron-ron

Okay, happy to go with that, but just for the record as far as I am concerned "one" rhymes with "run" and "done" and is therefore not a rhyme, but "on" is.

Ah，the old US vs UK vowel sound issue that has plagued us since the very first limerick I ever posted to Wordcraft (scorn/born/prawn ARE PERFECT rhymes in the UK). In this case, for me, one, gone, upon, shone are perfect rhymes but run, gun, son and shun are not. But use them if you wish. Other ears have different views. (And yes, I DO know how ridiculous that last sentence is. )

I sent in a limerick. In your example, Bob, gone and upon work. One and shone do not work at all for me. I would add Kwan, fawn, and lawn, also rhyme with Taiwan.

I hear there's a bar in Taipei called "Taiwan On."

I don’t know Kwan but for me lawn and fawn definitely don’t rhyme

Ooh Geoff that Taiwan On is too cute.

Bob, trying to imagine how lawn & fawn wouldn't rhyme. Can you somehow spell out how you say them?

Lawn and fawn do rhyme with each other but not with Taiwan, gone, none, on or one. I have emailed you a sound recording.

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

Lawn and fawn, do rhyme with Taiwan, in my world. Gone and on would rhyme, but we say none and one differently. The latter two rhyme with each other. One and nun would rhyme with fun, sun, and ton. When a doctor tells you to stick out your tongue and say, "Aahhh", how do you say it? That's how we say the second syllable of Taiwan.

My own examples:
Taiwan

lawn

gone

Notice how all the above can be pronounced with the same vowel sounds. Those below don't rhyme with Taiwan for Americans.

none

one

I will check my email to see if I got anything from you, but I am sure we are saying these words differently based on location.

quote:

Originally posted by BobHale:
Lawn and fawn do rhyme with each other but not with Taiwan, gone, none, on or one. I have emailed you a sound recording.

I never received your email.

Oops - I meant that message for Kalleh. I don’t have your email address but if you give it to me I can send the same file to you. I don’t think there is a way to post sound files here

Ditto bethree5

quote:

the old US vs UK vowel sound issue

Wow that surprises me, remember I'm Aussie, neither US nor UK, so it would seem we are a bit of both, although we completely reject the US spelling of English. I am still surprised though, because it seems what you are telling me is that for you on and one are perfect homonyms, whereas for me won and one are perfect homonyms.

Speaking of pronunciation, from what I can tell, even highly educated ones, who spend lots of their time with natural English speakers, the Indians just cannot get their head around our intonation. I have been listening to (& watching) a lot of World Cup ODI Cricket (nice win by the Aussies over the Poms the other day, Bob) lately, and have heard all of the following from highly respected Indian commentators, such as Harsha Bhogle:

perimeter pronounced as perry-meter
referred pronounced as refud
parameter pronouced as para-meter, and this one took the cake as far as I was concerned
purchasing pronounced as per-chasing

It can also surprise how easily words read often, but not necessarily heard that often, can be mispronounced.

My dad used to pronounce compromise (com-prom-ize) as com-promise (com-prom-iss), but I can't talk after all I used to pronounce melancholy (melon-kolly) as if it were me-lank-ily?

One and on aren’t homonyms for me but they are rhymes. It’s just that the former has W sound at the start and the latter doesn’t

Greg, you are just pronouncing it like Americans do.

quote:

Originally posted by BobHale:
One and on aren’t homonyms for me but they are rhymes. It’s just that the former has W sound at the start and the latter doesn’t

One is a homonym with won to me. They also rhyme with fun, ton, and sun.The o in them sound like a soft u. On sounds like the a you make when a doctor tells you to stick out your tongue and say, "ahhh".

No wonder we all can't agree on whether or not something rhymes. By the way, Bob, I realized that my 3rd and 4th line of my limerick don't really rhyme, though they aren't way off the mark. So, I am rethinking them. Maybe, you should just consider what I sent you a wash for now and I will try, again. Sorry.

quote:

Greg, you are just pronouncing it like Americans do.

As I suspected, we Aussies seem to pick and choose between the two quite a bit, and as a consequence our English doesn't sound anything much like either.

quote:

One and on aren’t homonyms for me but they are rhymes. It’s just that the former has W sound at the start and the latter doesn’t

So ... that means for you the WAN in Taiwan and ONE are actually homonyms, and therefore not rhymes for you either? LOL. (Unless of course you precede "one" with a word ending in a consonant sound)

quote:

Originally posted by Greg S:

quote:

One and on aren’t homonyms for me but they are rhymes. It’s just that the former has W sound at the start and the latter doesn’t

So ... that means for you the WAN in Taiwan and ONE are actually homonyms, and therefore not rhymes for you either? LOL. (Unless of course you precede "one" with a word ending in a consonant sound)

Yes.

But YMMV.

How many have you got so far, Bob?

I suppose it's about time I spent my mental energy on this thread, on actually writing a limerick, instead of all that other crap.

quote:

Originally posted by Geoff:
How many have you got so far, Bob?

Two and one that the author has withdrawn

quote:

Originally posted by Geoff:
I hear there's a bar in Taipei called "Taiwan On."

Isn’t that an obligation of honor owed to Japan by Formosa?

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

Well, yes, it IS paean respect to them.

Paean? I think of that as silent, like the paean swimming.

Another dose of chlorine, Hab's in the pool!

quote:

Originally posted by BobHale:


Two and one that the author has withdrawn

You've now got three from me, one of which should pass muster. The other two, like me, pass gas. (It's hell being an old fart!)

I revamped the one I had sent you previously. Should be in your personal message box.

I tweaked it one more time. I don't ever want to see Taiwan, again. I bet you hope you never have to deal with my tweaking a limerick ever again, either. I don't blame you. I drive even myself crazy.

n = n + 1

Well, I am late to this party. Sorry about that!

First of all, my recollection is that Bob started this game. I could be wrong of course.

Second, Geoff, some of those you are expecting limericks from are no longer on earth with us, unfortunately. They did like good limericks though. I loved Proof's (though they often were smutty!) and Jerry's. I remember meeting Jerry, and he had a party to introduce me to his friends. He introduced me to one and then took me aside, with a twinkle in his eye, and said, "Did you notice his double dactyl name?"

What about Muesamuse? What became of her? And don't shrug and say it's Greek to you!

I did. But there is time to contribute as I am away from my computer until Thursday

Mine is in - and, if I do say so myself, I rather outdid myself this time. Even I giggled a bit at the thought. (However, I am sure it still won't get a vote. )

Oooohhh! Did it have anything to do with whips and leather? I guess we'll find out soon.