DEC 20 (2021), "SELFLESSNESS": More Magical Palindromes

SATIRE COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio/ Dr GH, November 2019.
An extensive series of our recent posts highlighted maps that displayed targets for palindromic utterances about the world and its major cities. And in the process of doing this, we rediscovered our previous concept of "'Magical Palindromes". You can get into this delightful world or wordplay by checking out the most recent posts in that series, "Magical Canal Palindromes", " Unplanned Canal Palindromes", and  "Magical Palindromes -- Beyond Canals" and . 
The aim of the current blog is to extend these concepts in the spirit of the holidays, using a word that has been pivotal in the development of palindromes -- selfless. 

You might also want to review the comments by our band of spoofing contributing palindromists, in response to the challenge of spoofing the classic palindromic phrase "Ma is as selfless as I am." 

If you need help with the concept of magical palindromes, see the slide at the bottom of the post; it shows some simple examples which help you get the idea.

DIRECTION FOR WEB-TRAVELLERS: (updated June 2024)

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Reversing Verse: Limericks about CLASSIC PALINDROMES #5

 This post provides a continuation of previous wordplay collections displayed on December 5, 2020, January 5, 2021, February 5, 2021, and March 10, 2021. In those earlier posts, classic palindromes (phrases and sentences whose letters are ordered identically when they are read either forwards or backwards) were described and extolled in verse; the topics of discussion, eight in each post, were as follows: 

1. Dennis sinned            

2. Drawn onward

3. Gnu dung

4. Yreka bakery

5. Lonely Tylenol

6. UFO tofu

7. Too hot to hoot

8. Never odd or even 

-------------------------

9. Sex at noon taxes

10. No 'X' in Nixon.

11. A Santa at NASA

12. T. Eliot's toilet

13. Madam, I'm Adam

14. Sex of foxes

15. Able ere Elba

16. A Toyota's a Toyota

--------------------------

17. Mr. Owl ate my metal worm

18. Emil's lime

19. Critique of palindromes, To idiot: 

20. A dim or fond 'No!' from Ida

21. No lemon, no melon (fruitless)

22. 'Contrived' (saw- and see- lines)

23. Flee to me, remote elf

24. No sir, prison (Roger Stone) 

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25. Zeus sees Suez (canals)

26. Step on no pets  

27. Do geese see God?  

28. No 'D'; No 'L' -- London (negation)

29. Dogma? I am God

30. Mix a maxim

31. Egad! no bondage

32. Go hang a salami..... 

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CURRENT CONTENTS

Please note that, continuing the convention adopted in the previous posts, there will be an exclusive correlation between green italicized font and palindromes. But not all of the palindromes displayed within the verses' lines are in the 'classic repertoire'. Some are recent concoctions by the author. 

33. Racecar

34. No left felon 

35. A man, a plan, a canal -- Panama

36. An igloo? Cool, Gina.

37.The Dacha: palindrome-enhanced American satire, (4 verses, a 'brief saga')

38. Leigh Mercer's Palindrome Workshop, (4 verses, a brief saga)

Authors' Note: Embedded within the verse are eight palindromic phrases, each in italics and green font, separated from each other by semicolons.

   This perseverating nonsense may be partly explained by the author having driven a 2002 Toyota Camry as his only automobile since 2009. That no car can compete for efficiency, value and longevity is embodied in the classic palindromic phrase A Toyota's a Toyota (see the linked previous post for further discussion.)  

Authors' Note: Apparently a few felons are politicians, and vice versa.

(Note that the four verses of this "brief saga" can be found in more readily legible format on the blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense"; click HERE.) 

(Note that the four verses of this "brief saga" can be found in more readily legible format on the blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense"; click HERE.) 

But, there are also more versified classic palindromes to review. Proceed to the next collection and view classic spoofs on the IPP (Iconic Panama Palindrome) HERE ! 

DIRECTION FOR WEB-TRAVELLERS: 

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Verse and anagrams: election fraud

After discussing the reshufflings on these maps with my nephew M.H., I am embarrassed to have to admit that I neglected to include the name of the high-profile California performing entity 'If-Loner Duet CA'. Sorry about that oversight!

To review the entries in a recent National Anagram Contest that used the phrase 'ELECTION FRAUD' as the target for letter-scrambles, check this blog-link. 

If you would like to see the complete 'anagram swarm' based on A VERY STABLE GENIUS, check this post.

You can find more anagram swarms in a follow-up post by clicking here!

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 week in the years 2020 and 2021. (There are now over 600 daily entries on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on 'Edifying Nonsense' in topic-based collections.)

Grandpa Greg's Advanced Grammar: BINOMIAL EXPRESSIONS, part #1

Editors' Note:  Before proceeding to these collections of short verses, readers might benefit from reviewing an earlier post entitled Edification about Word-Pairs: "The Binomials", A Linguistic Lesson

CURRENT CONTENTS:

Hale and hearty 

Hug and kiss

Food and drink 

First and last

Sin and redemption

Down and out

Betwixt and between

Hem and haw,

plus many others that play a supporting role in the verses

(check the link below for a follow-up series)

Authors' Note:  A binomial pair, phrase, or expression, is a language element consisting of a pair of words that are used in a fixed order as an idiom. The two members of the pair are the same part of speech, are semantically related, often near-synonyms or antonyms, and are most commonly joined by and, or or; they often play a role as clichés. The term irreversible binomial was coined and extensively discussed by American philologist Yakov Malkiel in 1954. The most catchy of these phrases are alliterative, as hale and hearty, or rhyming, as in near and dear, or haste makes waste.

 Authors' Note: Binomial expressions combine two paired elements in a fixed order. Lists of these phrases show that when the two genders are in question, males almost always come first. This bias is shown in dozens of idioms such as boys and girls, lords and ladies, men and women, brother and sister, kings and queens, Jack and Jill, etc.

The few notable exceptions highlight a gender-constrained role for women, including belles and beaus, bride and groom, and moms and dads.

Gender-bias in language is also discussed in another verse by the authors. Click HERE. 

Authors' Note: The forty-fifth US president and his advisors seem to have come up with a scare tactic, telling voters that waves of Central American refugees appearing on the southern US border were comprised of potential rapists and drug-dealers. The 'redemption' referred to here is entry into the safe refuge of the United States.   

For binomial expressions, such as sin and redemption, there is (in normal times) a mandatory, irreversible order of the two linguistic elements.

Authors' Note:   The concept of fossil words derives from the fact that dozens of obsolete and obscure words, e.g. betwixt, retain currency only as a part of idioms whose use has continued into modern times. The final line of the verse refers to beck and call, goods and chattels, and hither and yon.

 

 More examples of fossil words and phrases are given in the verse hem and haw.

Authors' Note:   The astute reader might realize that "whence, wherefore and whither" (like "snug as a bug in a rug") is a TRInomial phrase, a less common entity.  

For more verses about  "Binomial Expressions", please proceed to part #2 by clicking HERE. 

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NOV 20 (2021), '"ELECTION FRAUD" Anagrams: A Contest

 Over the last week we have had an anagram contest at the national (U.S.) level. We apologize to readers who missed the opportunity to participate.

The challenge was to come up with the best anagram (letter-scramble) of

E-L-E-C-T-I-O-N F-R-A-U-D

Out of an abundance of caution, we avoided announcing the contest initially, and have not required contest participants to agree to publishing their phone numbers, email addresses or charge-card PINs.

But we are now pleased to announce that the WINNING ENTRY nationally was ...

FAILED RECOUNT

Consideration was also given by the judges to the best entry for each participating state; the winning entries are shown on the accompanying map.

Sincere thanks to all who participated.

The national RUNNER-UP for best anagram is...

OUTLINED FARCE

Now to the Runners-Up for each participating state...

Read carefully. These concoctions are all different from the state 'Winners', which were posted 2 days ago!

And have a safe week -- two-day countdown to Freedom-from-Trump Day!

As you know, in the national contest, the Best Anagram was 

                                               FAILED RECOUNT

and the Runner-up was...     OUTLINED FARCE

Here are some other entries worthy of HONORABLE MENTION ...

                                               LO, INCUR DEFEAT

                                               OR FEED LUNATIC

                                               NOTICED EARFUL

                                                LIAR OUTFENCED

                                                REINFECT ALOUD

                                                FUEL RIOT-DANCE

                                                UNALTERED FOCI

                                                ELUDE FRACTION

                                                LEFTIE CANDOUR

                                                ULCERATED INFO

                                                ROTUND LIE-FACE

                                                DUE LATIN FORCE

                                                I.O.U. FACT-LENDER 

                                                LUCIFER ATONED

                                                UNDO RELIEF ACT     

                                                FIE ON A RED CULT!

                                                URAL DEFECTION                                          

                                                UNCLAD RIOT-FEE

                                                U.F.O. CREDENTIAL

                                                ONCE-FED RITUAL

                                                CURT FOE DENIAL

                                                FEAR NOT IL DUCE

                                                TO CRUDE FINALE

And here are a few other imaginative entries for the National Anagram Contest ...

FORNICATE DUEL;     ADORE FIT UNCLE;     RECITAL DONE - FU! 

ONE LURID FACET;    COULD IRAN FÊTE?    TOUCAN FIELDER;

EDUCATE FOR NIL;    FONDUE ARTICLE;      IN 'ACUTE' FOLDER;

DOCENT FAILURE;     A FECUND TOILER;    I.O.U. FACT LENDER;

ULTRA-FINE COED;  TRUE FAN, "LIE, DOC!" ENTICE FUR-LOAD; 

DETOUR IF CLEAN;  RE CUE: "DON'T FAIL!" OFTEN LURED C.I.A.

                                              

As we wrap up this discussion, we note here a few submissions in the National Contest that were quite clever from a wordplay perspective, but not relevant to the topic at hand. These include ...

FLUORINE CADET; INTRODUCE FLEA; DO INFLATE CURE;

TUNDRA ICE-FLOE; FURNACE TOILED; FINE-CUT ORDEAL;

INCUR FLEET ADO; FINE CORAL DUET; FERAL DOE TUNIC;

ERUDITE FALCON; ADIEU TORN CLEF; FLORA INDUCTEE;

FEED LATINO CUR; COULDN'T FAERIE? FAINTER OLD CUE;

ELFIN EDUCATOR; ARTFUL CODEINE; DECENT FOUL AIR;

UNDO AFTER LICE; CIAO, TENDER FLU; FLORENCE AUDIT;

ECO-LAIDEN TURF; RED ELF AUCTION; CAROTENE FLUID;

CAT: DOUR FELINE; URL://DEFECATION; RODENT-FLEA I.C.U.;

TRIFLE ACNE DUO; FIE, RUNTED COLA! CAN'T FIELD EURO

TRUE FAN; "LIE, DOC!" FAUCI, DO RELENT.

For a more serious take, you might want to review this Wikipedia article.

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 week in the years 2020 and 2021. (There are now over 600 daily entries on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on 'Edifying Nonsense' in topic-based collections.)

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