Saturday, 20 June 2020

Anagram swarms: CANADIAN PLACENAMES, FUNKY yet real, versus Imaginar:y


CARTOGRAPHY involving Canadian cities, towns and hamlets - real places where Canadians live. The real names were selected from thousands of such geographic identifiers because of their funkiness, i.e. amusing nature, based on implied or speculative meaning of the shorter English (and French words) comprising the geographic identifiers. The aim was to provide a set of REAL placenames, to which Scramble-Town Maps (imaginary placename sets based on anagrams), concocted by the author, could be compared. The current post is a continuation of prior ideas, as displayed in the final slide.
 
DATA, MAPS and GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION COMPILED, and ANAGRAMS COMPOSED: by Giorgio Coniglio, June, 2017.




Selected real Canadian places














Detailed Imaginary Placenames, by province



Note that the 2-letter abbreviation must fit for a political division to be included in this wordplay; unfortunately, unless a 'B' is arbitrarily added to the mix, only the territory of Nunavut complies with this rigid rule.
The following map shows some possibilities, far-fetched though they may be. 




National Summary of Funky Names for a different 'anagram swarm'.




Monday, 15 June 2020

Verses About DOCTORS and their PRACTICES, part #1

    


SATIRE COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, November 2018. The involved verses have also been web-published at OEDILF.com, an online humour dictionary that has accumulated over 110,000 carefully edited limericks.

FOLLOW-UP: More such verses are being compiled, and will be shared on later blogposts.





Authors' Note:

prep: medical jargon for preparatory measures needed before surgery or complex testing

  The general public is aware of the importance of colonoscopy for screening in early colon cancer. Colonoscopy also plays an important role in the diagnosis, treatment and followup of symptomatic colonic problems, including isolated polyps, diffuse polyposis of several kinds, colitis and gastrointestinal bleeding. Your colonoscopist is likely to be a surgeon, less commonly an internist, trained in gastrointestinal diseases and in the technical aspects of flexible fiberoptic endoscopy.




Authors' Note: The new high-tech modality PET entails 'coincidence imaging' with positron emitters, such as fluorine-18, unusual drugs that give off two gamma-rays simultaneously in exactly opposite direction with each radiodecay event. In contrast, older technology with standard radiolabels, often designated by the initialism 'SPECT' (single-photon emission computed tomography) was used by imaging  specialists such as our protagonist 'Dr. Specter'. 



Authors' Note:  

PSA: prostate specific antigen, a widely used blood test to screen for prostate cancer and to monitor the result of treatment  
  
 Considerably more complex than blood tests, a biopsy obtains samples of the relevant tissue, and is used by the pathologist to make a specific determination as to the presence, type, and severity of disease.





Authors' NoteDermatology is reputed to be a rather routine and phlegmatic area of medical practice. That view may not be entirely irrational; however, you may be glad that you and your family doctor can consult with these specialists should you be faced with a life- or lifestyle-threatening disorder such as pemphigusmycosis fungoidespsoriatic arthropathy or melanoma.


Requests from many health professionals and layfolks as well have come to fruition; there is now a followup post continuing this theme that you can easily access by clicking HERE


Here's a LIST OF LINKS to 20+ collections of informative  poems (over 160 of these!) on medical/dental topics that were extracted from various far-flung posts, and now can be easily viewed. 



A NOTE FOR WEB-TRAVELLERS:
If you want to resume daily titillations on our blog 'Daily Illustrated Nonsense', click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 through 2022. (There are now over 900 daily entries on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on 'Edifying Nonsense' in topic-based collections.)



Wednesday, 10 June 2020

CURTAINED VERSE: FAINTLY OBSCENE (selected) LIMERICKS, part #1


INTRODUCTION:
This collection of verses have also been web-published at OEDILF.coman online humor dictionary that has accumulated 120,000 carefully edited limericks. 
As limerick-writers are often tempted to dive into the baser spheres of human life, the dictionary has a "curtained room", accessible only to online members, presumably flagging that the designated verses may not be suitable for children. On his own recognizance, Giorgio has selected the following verses from OEDILF's Curtained Room, based on their  requiring only "light curtaining", and taken the risk of offending some readers by publishing them on this otherwise sedate, and arguably family-oriented blog.



WARNING: The following verses may not be suitable for all ages. Those under 12 or over 82 are advised to read the following content only with the permission and supervision of an adult family member.  


CONTENTS:
Adultery
Braless
Business Agenda
Buoy and Gull
The Clench
Come and Go
Complimentarily
Florid (STD)
with more to come on a followup posting; see below.



 

Authors' Note: 

oy gevalt (oy-guh-VULT): phrase borrowed from Yiddish; an exclamation expressing shock, surprise or disapproval

schadenfreude (SHA-den-froi-duh, or as here, sha-den-FROI-duh): loanword from German; taking delight in others' misfortune







Authors' Note: The authors hope and trust that Fran did actually check the age of her agents.








Authors' Note:  In the above verse, italics and blue font are used to indicate idioms that fall under the grammatical label of "binomial expressions". Read more verses explaining and exemplifying musical clichés of this type HERE.  









Authors' Note: 

STD: initialism for 'sexually transmitted disease', a problem for which one might consult an STD-clinic or an STD-doc

Although it's principal meanings revolve around the Latin term for flowery or flourishingflorid has come to imply, in the medical context, "referring todisease or to a symptom in its fully developed form", or perhaps "fragrantly, flagrantly florid".



FOLLOW-UP INFO:  Lots of ordinary folks (not just prurient porn-buffs) have united in their demand for more verses on related topics, even if they require lightweight "curtaining" !
So, please follow this linkfor 'curtained verse, part#2' 


DIRECTION FOR WEB-TRAVELLERS: To resume daily titillations on our related blog 'Daily Illustrated Nonsense', click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 to the present. (As of September 2023, there are over 1200 unique entries available on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on 'Edifying Nonsense' in topic-based collections.) The 'Daily' format has the advantage of including some videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.



Friday, 5 June 2020

Inner Enlightenment: The SCOPES of MODERN MEDICINE

CURRENT CONTENTS:
Endoscopic procedures
Esophago-gastro-duodenoscopy (EGD)
Fiberoptic laryngoscopy
Mediastinoscopy
Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)
Veterinary bronchoscopy
More to follow




Authors' Note

Uro: medical jargon for 'urologist'

scope: (jargon, as here) in modern usage, a camera with flexible fiberoptic cable to visualize internal viscera; abbreviated from endoscope

   This verse deals with endoscopic procedures that use flexible fiberoptic devices to inspect and sometimes to biopsy or to treat the lining of various hollow body organs (viscera). Recently, as  such instruments have become more technically sophisticated and widely used, these procedures have expanded their role and their accuracy in specialty medical practice. Advanced training is required for practitioners to acquire expertise. In addition to the procedures mentioned in this collection of verses, similar considerations underlie operative laparoscopy, culdoscopy, etc. 


Authors' Note 

Central Booking: a hospital department that schedules equipment and personnel for time-dependent procedures

scope: short form for endoscopy, a procedure in which a tube containing a camera system is introduced for visualization of a body cavity via a natural body opening, or via a small incision

Disorders of the upper gastrointestinal tract (especially lower esophagus, stomach, and uppermost bit of small bowel - duodenum) are common and usually symptomatic. EGD, allows visualization of the tract's inner lining or mucosa, and biopsy of suspicious areas. Similar instrumentation is used in a spectrum of medical situations. Various specialties may employ the term ‘endoscopy’ or ‘scope’ to indicate their favorite procedure.  







Authors' Note:
  
ENTmedical specialty involving health and disorders of the ear, nose and throat; also referred to as otolaryngology

Failure of the body's GE junction can sometimes result in symptoms of inflammation in the throat (hoarseness, cough), rather than the more typical symptom of heartburn related to the esophagus.

Diagnosis is simple in modern times, as most specialists can perform flexible fiberoptic laryngoscopy as part of the outpatient examination. In more obvious cases, 'free' (unprovoked) reflux of stomach contents can actually be viewed during the examination.





Authors' Note: Prior to the surgical treatment of bronchogenic lung cancer, your doctor will check for possible asymptomatic spread of disease with mediastinoscopy,  including biopsy of lymphatic tissue adjacent to the lungs





Authors' NoteCholangiopancreatography  is a technique for evaluation of the biliary and pancreatic systems of ducts by a skilled endoscopic operator, who advances the instrument, where possible through the intestine's duodenum into the common bile duct. in some cases treatment, e.g. extraction of gallstones, may also be performed with the diagnostic device. The technique is of particular value when radiographic imaging (e.g. CT scanning), is unable to distinguish between inflammation (often due to impacted gallstones) and neoplasia (cancer).  
       


Authors' Note: SheilaB, a physician and prodigious creator of limericks at the OEDILF web-site, defined the bronco ("unbroken horse"), and would have been perplexed by my confusion with the homonomous Greek root broncho- ("windpipe"). Certainly, we would all need to call on our veterinarian colleagues to learn more about the investigation of respiratory maladies in horses. Bronchoscopy is a fairly commonly performed procedure in diagnosis of human lung disorders.

The unrelated term honcho ("group leader", or "boss") is of Japanese derivation.



Editors' note:  cystoscope is a type of endoscope that is inserted into the urethra for the purpose of examining it and the bladder. it is also used for obtaining tissue samples for biopsies; in some highly specialized circumstances, it is also used for treatment.




Here's a LIST OF LINKS to collections of intriguing poems (over 160 of these!) on medical/dental topics that can now be found on various posts. 

DIRECTION FOR WEB-TRAVELLERS:
If you want to resume daily titillations on our blog 'Daily Illustrated Nonsense', click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 through 2022. (There are now over 1200 daily entries on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on 'Edifying Nonsense' in topic-based collections.)