FEB 15 2025

APR 10, 2020, news #4

 This blogpost is a representation of 'VERS FRANÇAIS', verses about saying things in French, as initially posted on this blog February 15, 2020. 

CURRENT CONTENTS:  (original posting -- February 15, 2020)
Avant-garde savant
Bilingual labelling
Corniches
Franglais
French enologists

Authors' Note: The present participle (participe présent) is used much less commonly in French than in English; the good news is that this form is regular for all but three verbs (to know, to have, to be). In contrast, infinitives are used more often, so 'knowing and doing' is described by savoir-faire.

Savant, an archaic form derived from savoir, is still in use as a noun for 'someone who knows' (a prodigy).

Avant looks as though it should be the present participle for avoir, but in fact it derives from the Latin preposition abante; but, as a loanword, e.g. avant-garde, it has become associated with the 'forefront' (ayant is in fact the present participle 'having').   

Authors' Note: 

au verso (oh vehr-soh) French for 'on the reverse side'

Bilingual labelling, if you pay attention to it, produces some startling results. In Canada, pomegranates and their juice must be imported. But, in French-speaking parts of the country, we would refer to them as grenades, the modern French term for the fruit. In the circumstance under discussion, the particular juice-box was labelled on its French side as jus de grenade.

An archaic term for the tree and for the fruit, pomegranate derives from the Middle Ages, but seems to have gotten stuck in English as a sort of borrowed anachronism. On the other hand, we have grenadine syrup, a cocktail additive, putatively made from pomegranate juice, but in fact, often concocted from synthetic ingredients.

You can review verses on this topic in a wider context on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Check the post 'Vers Francais: Savoir-Faire' by clicking HERE.

Authors' Note:

en visite (ahn vee-ZEET): ‘while visiting'

les touristes (lay too-REEST):  'the tourists’

non-français (non frahn-SEH): ‘not French (speaking)’

ils causaient (eel koh-ZEH): 'they chatted‘

Québécois (kay-bay-KWAH): ‘resident of Quebec (province)’

franglais (frahn-GLEH): ‘Franglais, a mixed lingo’

) OCT 25 (2026) singable satire: "OFF-PATENT DRUG NINETEEN"

 

 Today's Offering (Oct 25, 2026): SINGABLE SATIRE 

ORIGINAL PARODY-LYRICS

MUSICAL UNDERPINNINGS: "Love Potion Number Nine" , The Clovers, 1959.  

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, December 2012. The song was performed at an open mike at the Corktown Ukulele Jam's weekly session, meeting in a pub located a stone' throw from where two principal downtown streets, King St., and Queen St., deviate slightly from their parallel course and intersect at the Don River. 

UKULELE and GUITAR-FRIENDLY LINK: Our whole series of songs can be found in a friendly format for ukulele (and guitar)-players on our sister blog "SILLY SONGS and SATIRE" with chord-charts for both the parody and original song, as well as helpful performing suggestions. 

 To find ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany "OFF-PATENT DRUG NINETEEN" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.

From Wikipedia...... In November 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the patent on Viagra was invalid from the beginning as the company had not provided full disclosure.
This song imagines that Madame Ruth had relocated to Toronto towards the end of her career, pursuing her profession in the section known as Corktown - also known for massive ukulele-jam meetings at a local pub.


OFF-PATENT DRUG #NINETEEN
or Madame Ruth's Lament

(to the tune of "Love Potion Number Nine")

I had some troubles making magic pills,

You’ll know the new ones, like sildenafil;

In ‘62 I palmed some off and then I did some time:

Cop-assault seemed part of ... Love Potion Number Nine.

My new blue Love-Drug could be guys’ delight,
They'd stand to attention for part of the night.

How hard could it be to direct their urge at chicks?

The patent gave the details since ...  Nineteen Ninety-Six.

If they’d buy my knock-offs they would never flop,

I could scope out more ingredients and set up shop.

A good place to test it might be “where King meets Queen” -

I needed a success with ... Generic Drug Nineteen.

Got turned around and flustered when I checked out the lists;

The patent called for extracts in a strange solvent mix.

I swirled it in the bathtub with some weird catalysts;  

It stank like Potion Nine but I breathed in a few whiffs.

I packed it up though it was smoking green,

And grabbed and cabbed it to the Corktown scene,

But when I kissed the cop down at River Street and Queen,

She broke my 30 vials of  ...   Off-Patent Drug Nineteen.

Those vials were smoking  green,

That lady cop was mean,
Off-Patent Drug Nine-teen !

Psst!  Psst!

If you have troubles when you’re in a hug,

There’s knock-off drug enough to fill a jug;

But please ignore the fact that the pills are shocking green,

And please avoid the corner of  ...   River St and Queen.

Off-Patent Drug Nineteen x2

Off-Patent Drug Nineteen!

) OCT 20 (2026) singable satire: 'RE-DUPLICATIONS" (part #2, L to Z)

 

ORIGINAL SONG: "The Elements", Tom Lehrer, 1959.

PARODY COMPOSED: Dr. G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio, 2015. This song is the eighth of nine in the series on Word Pairs. You can find the links to the lyrics of the previous songs at the bottom of the post. 

EXPLANATION:

 For a discussion of reduplications on an earlier post on this blogsite, click HERE. The current post also honours our previous venture of Feb 15, 2017 entitled 'Abracadabra' to 'Zoom-zoom': possibly the world's largest compendium of reduplications'.  

UKULELE and GUITAR-FRIENDLY LINK: Our whole series of songs can be found in a friendly format for ukulele (and guitar)-players on our sister blog  "SILLY SONGS and SATIRE". Click HERE to proceed to this site. 

Many of these words and phrases have fascinating stories of their origin and subsequent use; the hotlinks highlight those with instructive or amusing information available on the web.

There’s lazy Daisy, loosey-goosey, Ling Ling, and lickety-split
And lovey-dovey, legal eagle, mellow yellow, and nitwit,
And mumbo-jumbo, muck-a-muck, Mau Mau, Bony Moronie
And Mai Tai, mole hole, nitty-gritty, phony (fake)--baloney.

There’s namby-pamby, no-no, ooey-gooey, okey-doke, ping pong,
And pom-pom, palsy-walsy, pasty faced, slap-happy, singalong
And pow-wow, pitter-patter, pooper-scooper, plain Jane, and pell-mell
And poo-poo (scat), pooh-pooh (reject), and pupu (snack); how can you tell?

There’s quick fix, quack-quack, razzle-dazzle, rail trail, ragtag, ring-aling
And razzmattaz, and rumble-tumble, Roger dodger, and Sing Sing.
And ready Freddy, rollick-frolic, “fuddle-duddle” (P. Trudeau)
And roly-poly, rinky-dink and super-duper, or so-so.

There’s shock jock, sure cure, snip-snap, sci-fi, smartcart, shipshape, stunning gun,
And silly billy, speed read, shilly-shally, squish-squash, stumblebum,
And shady lady, seesaw, space race, Star Wars, snail mail, PigglyWig’
And tutti-frutti, tittle-tattle, tiki, tip-top, thing’majig.

There’s teeter-totter, tootsie-wootsie, teentsie-weentsie, and tee-tee
And tom-toms drumming, tartar, tum-tum, tattle-tale, uh-huh, TV
And tubby-wubby, wishy-washy, willy-nilly, woman’s womb
And walkie-talkie, wingding, yo-yo, yoo-hoo! zig-zag and zoom-zoom.

Ta-Dah !!!

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Many of these words and phrases have fascinating stories of their origin and subsequent use; the hotlinks highlight those with instructive or amusing information available on the web, as follows:

Ling Ling, lickety-split, mellow yellow, nitwit, muck-a-muck, Mau Mau, mumbo-jumbo, Bony Moronie, Mai Tai, nitty-gritty, phony-balo-oney, namby-pamby, okey-doke, pom-pom, pow-wow, pell-mell, Roger dodger, Sing Sing, “fuddle-duddle”, roly-poly, rinky-dink,shock jock, sci-fi, stun gun, shady lady, seesaw, space race, tutti-frutti, , tiki, teeter-totter, tom-toms tartar, ,willy-nilly, walkie-talkie, yo-yo, zig-zag and zoom-zoom.

And, for those interested, here's how you find the lyrics-only-version

of the nine songs that make up this cycle. If you would like to  accompany yourself on ukulele or guitar, find relevant chord charts by following the links that will take you to the versions in our blog "Silly Songs and Satire". 

1. PAIRS, to the tune of "Words" in the style of the Beegees

...  the following songs in the style of "The Elements" by Tom Lehrer

2. ALLITERATIVE BINOMIALS, part#1

3. ALLITERATIVE BINOMIALS, part#2

4. RHYMING BINOMIALS, part#1

5. RHYMING BINOMIALS, part#2

6. A LESSON ABOUT REDUPLICATIONS

7. REDUPLICATIONS, part#1

8. REDUPLICATIONS, part#2

9. LEGALISTIC DOUBLETS, in the style of "Supercalifragilistic..." from  the musical "Mary Poppins"

OCT 15, 2026: ReDUPLICATIONS, claptrap #4 [3]

     

This post represents the continuation of a collection of verses about the grammatical device, REDUPLICATIONS, as displayed on this blog on October 15, 2023 (claptrap #1), October 15, 2024 (claptrap #2) and October 15, 2025 (claptrap #3).

previous poetic posts (Note that captions are available for poems displayed on "Daily Illustrated Nonsense" as of 2024).

(claptrap #1): cootchie-(cootchie-)coo, claptrap, dilly-dally, fuddle-duddle, fuddy-duddy.  

(claptrap #2): hanky-panky, harum-scarum, helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, hilbilly.

(claptrap #3): hobos, hocus-pocus, hodge-podge.

CURRENT CONTENTS: (#4 -- October 15, 2026) 
Hoi polloi
Holus-bolus
Hubba-bubba. 

Authors' Note:

bubba: stereotyped male inhabitant of the southern US with an upbeat, but macho attitude

Bubba: frequent nickname for a specific male, as used by his buddies

rubba: rubber (American slang for condom), with typical non-rhotic pronunciation

chick: southern girl

hubba-hubba: intriguing (re)duplication, presumably originating in the US a century ago; an expression of approval voiced by males when viewing a sexually attractive chick.

 The previous page is sending you to https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/06/hubba-hubba.html.