A.Word.A.Day -- AWADmail Issue 896

A.Word.A.Day

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AWADmail Issue 896

A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day and Other Tidbits about Words and Language

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From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
Subject: Palindromes

The palindrome is a popular topic. Lots and lots of readers shared palindromes from their lives. Read below.

When I created the MPM (Massive Palindrome Miner), I was hoping to find hidden palindromes that occurred naturally in various works of literature. I fed all of Shakespeare’s plays into the MPM and I have to say that I’m disappointed with him. All that drama and not one decent palindrome. With pangram if you keep going you’ll eventually hit all the letters, but a palindrome is a different beast. While I understand that we aren’t going to find great palindromes that occur naturally, I’m still hoping that there are palindromes that some obscure writers have included in their books and we don’t know about them because their name is not Shakespeare.

So feed any books you find into the MPM and let us know what you find out.

Also, check out the MPM website for palindromes in Morse code, in music, in digits of pi, and more.

From: Catherine Cline (cackycline aol.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--ere

If Adam and Eve had been THAT fond of palindromes, they’d have named their children ANNA, OTTO, and BOB!

Catherine Cline, Amelia Island, Florida

From: Gary Muldoon (gmuldoon kamanesq.com)
Subject: palindromes

Years ago, when John Riggins was a running back for the Washington Redskins, my palindromic contribution for him was, “I maim Miami.”

Gary Muldoon, Rochester, New York

From: Robin Maymar (robinmaymar gmail.com)
Subject: Palindromes

Nilo Olin was a member of our church, and my first introduction to palindromes. His name slips off the tongue so elegantly.

Robin Maymar, San Antonio, Texas

From: Kit Wise (kitwise48 gmail.com)
Subject: Palindrome

Cartoon from The New Yorker: “Mom, Dad, sis -- I’m not like you. I’m not a palindrome.”
If only he had changed his name to Bob.

Also, this.

Kit Wise, Providence, Rhode Island

From: Magda Jovanovic (magda.jovanovic cce.si)
Subject: Palindromes in Slovenian and Serbian or Croatian

Here are two palindromes, the first one in Slovenian and the second in the Serbian or Croatian language: “Perica reže raci rep.” (ž is pronounced as j in Jolie). The meaning is The laundry girl is cutting the duck’s tail. As a kid, I always asked myself what the duck had to do with laundry.

The Serbian/Croatian palindrome is nicer: “Ana voli Milovana” Which means Ana loves Milovan.

Magda Jovanovic, Ljubljana, Slovenia

From: Tim Carr (carrfamily mindspring.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--ere

A palindrome honoring Atlanta Braves hitter who’s been on a roll recently. Josh Donaldson: “He stem Mets, eh?”

Tim Carr, Atlanta, Georgia

From: Michael Duke (mickduke44 hotmail.com)
Subject: palindromes

I was lucky enough to see a show at the Edinburgh Fringe called Are we not drawn onward to new erA by Belgian company Ontroerend Goed. The show itself was as much a palindrome as its title. An amazing piece of theatre, I’d recommend it to everyone!

Michael Duke, Glasgow, Scotland

From: Mallika Menon (mallikam gmail.com)
Subject: I know a guy...

I known a guy called Roopak Kapoor. I don’t know if his naming was intentional.

Mallika Menon, Mumbai, India

From: Susan Jones (susandjones27 me.com)
Subject: Palindromes

If you do not know the short story AINMOSNI by Roger Angell, long-time contributor to The New Yorker, it is about a man obsessed with palindromes and it has led me through a lifelong love affair with them. I even remember trying to make a palindrome out of Richard Nixon’s friend Abplanalp! “Insomnia” indeed!

Susan Jones, Canton, Connecticut

From: Richard Stallman (rms gnu.org)
Subject: Palindromic place name

The city of Neuquén, in Argentina, has a name that is a seven-letter palindrome. Does any place have a longer palindrome as its name?

Dr Richard Stallman, Boston, Massachusetts

From: Ilene Eagle (neshermom comcast.net)
Subject: palindromic names

Our son Yishai (English spelling we chose) has one of the three palindromic male names in Hebrew: Yishai, Natan, and David, when written in Hebrew:

דוד (Daled - Vov - Daled) = David
ישי (Yud - Shin - Yud, see the 5 fingers sticking up?) = Yishai (our son’s name, English version would be Jesse)
נתן (Nun - Taf - Nun, a “nun” at the end of the word appears in a longer version, but it is still the same letter/pronunciation....it might be easier to understand, if you just copy and paste the first nun, on the right side, at the end)

But what we think makes Yishai’s name the coolest of the three is that it can be spelled by simply holding up your hand with your fingers spread apart. Yud-Shin-Yud is the Hebrew spelling so the pinky and thumb represent two “yuds” with the three-pronged Shin in the middle. :)

Ilene Eagle, Baltimore, Maryland

From: Tracey Morgan (tracey_morgan yahoo.com)
Subject: aah-hee-ee-haa

In Tetun, the lingua franca of Timor-Leste, electricity (and fire) is “ahi” and “iha” means “there is”. When power returns following a cut, my household is encouraged to join me in singing the palindromic “Ahi Iha Chorus” to the tune of Handel’s greatest hit. Pronounced aah-hee-ee-haa, it’s surprisingly difficult in the fast bits.

Tracey Morgan, Dili, Timor-Leste

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From: Dennis Major (dmajordude msn.com)
Subject: Palindromes

With my name being Dennis, I have always been fond of these:

Dennis sinned.

Dennis and Edna sinned.

Dennis, Nell, Edna, Leon, Nedra, Anita, Rolf, Nora, Alice, Carol, Leo, Jane, Reed, Dena, Dale, Basil, Rae, Penny, Lana, Dave, Denny, Lena, Ida, Bernadette, Ben, Ray, Lila, Nina, Jo, Ira, Mara, Sara, Mario, Jan, Ina, Lily, Arne, Bette, Dan, Reba, Diane, Lynn, Ed, Eva, Dana, Lynne, Pearl, Isabel, Ada, Ned, Dee, Rena, Joel, Lora, Cecil, Aaron, Flora, Tina, Arden, Noel, and Ellen sinned.

Must have been one hell of an orgy!

Dennis Major, Colorado Springs, Colorado

From: Virginia McGee Butler (vannb comcast.net)
Subject: Palindrome

My great-grandmother’s given name of Susanna was shortened, and she was always called Anna. She married a man with a last name of Hannah so that she became Anna Hannah. This made a curiosity of two palindromic names with one fitting inside the other. Her daughter-in-law, my grandmother, continued the palindromic tradition since her name was Ada and she became Ada Hannah.

I’m looking forward to this week since the grandmothers have led me to a fascination with palindromes!

Virginia McGee Butler, Hattiesburg, Mississippi

From: Chavali Srinivasa Rao (srich hpcl.in)
Subject: Palindromes

In Sanskrit, there are books written with this alankara (beautification technique). One popular one is Ramakrishna Viloma Kavyam.

Chavali Srinivasa Rao, Mumbai, India

From: Christoph Grein (christ-usch.grein t-online.de)
Subject: Palindrome

I’ve used this palindrome many times, each time reduced, in a little story about a problem in a programming language called Ada. (It’s not really interesting for people not knowing the language.)

“Madam, I’m Adam”
“Adam, I’m Ada”
“Dam’, I’mad”
“Am I, ma”
“mim”
“I”
“” Note that also this is a palindrome and with a stretch, also nothing is one.

Christoph Grein, Greifenberg, Germany

From: Beye Fyfe (beye_fyfe yahoo.com)
Subject: A Vertical Palindrome?

Aside from two overlapping palindromes in my full name (Beye Fyfe), I discovered many years ago that if you arrange the eight letters and one space in a 3x3 matrix, the matrix reads the same horizontally and vertically:

B E Y
E   F
Y F E

I pointed this out to my father (William Beye Fyfe -- three palindromes), and his opinion was that I had too much time on my hands.

Beye Fyfe, Las Vegas, Nevada

From: Alden Prouty (alden.prouty gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--ere

Sinram Marnis was/is an oil delivery company in the Bronx. I always felt elated to see the trucks.

Alden Prouty, New York, New York

From: Henrik Nielsen (hsnielsen hn-metrology.com)
Subject: This is not the palindrome you are looking for

An autodrome is a racecourse. The Monza racetrack in Italy is, for example, known as Autodromo Nazionale Monza. Back when Sarah Palin was in the national news, I was thinking that they should name a racetrack after her. It would, of course, be the Palindrome. Its distinguishing feature would be that races would be run in both directions simultaneously with the predictable consequences of crashing and burning. It would have been such a fitting tribute to her political career.

Henrik Nielsen, Indianapolis, Indiana

From: Susan Saunders (susansaunders2008 btinternet.com)
Subject: Sarah Palin

When Sarah Palin was running for vice-president of the USA, there was a neat palindrome -- “Wasilla’s all I saw” -- composed about her lack of international experience. (She started her political career as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.)

Susan Saunders, Teddington, UK

From: Tony Seton (tonyseton tonyseton.com)
Subject: SetonnoteS

My name is Tony Seton. I produced a column for a number of years called SetonnoteS.

Tony Seton, Carmel, California

From: John Wood (woodjohn telus.net)
Subject: palindrome names

True story -- the first barber in Wakaw, Saskatchewan (Canada) was Bob Hannah. This set of three palindromes actually made it into Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.

Better to send any mail to Bob Hannah, Wakaw than to send it to Reg or Roger.

John Wood, Qualicum Beach, Canada

From: Michael Klossner (klossner9 aol.com)
Subject: Robert Trebor -- full name palindrome

Robert Trebor was the comic actor who played Salmoneus on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess (both 1995-2001). His online fan club called itself the Palindrome Pals.

Michael Klossner, Little Rock, Arkansas

From: Richard Bruno (richardgbruno gmail.com)
Subject: Palindromic variant...

I have long been fascinated by palindromes, in all their reversible glory. Here is a different approach that might be of interest to you: I work as a creative director for various kinds of corporate events, and I have used palindromic prose poems on a few occasions. These are trickily constructed pieces where the repeating unit is not a letter or a word but, essentially, a sentence. Generally, we turn these pieces into simple animations that play on screen with narration at large business meetings. As the poem scrolls on screen, this first “read” is disheartening, depressing, and sets up the straw-man “villain”. The we pause and read it in the opposite direction, ending on a positive, motivational note. A gimmick, but it works!

Here is a sample, for a pharmaceutical company launching a new osteoporosis product, played for its 1500 sales reps:

As a person who has recently suffered a fracture
I am on a downward spiral and could end up in a wheelchair
It’s not true that
My bone health can be improved
Treatment risks outweigh benefits
I don’t believe
Bone can be rebuilt
I expect to hear my doctor tell me
My outlook towards osteoporosis should change
It is clear that
I can no longer do the things I once did
It is foolish to think that
I can take charge of my life and
This is finally my time

This is finally my time
I can take charge of my life and
It is foolish to think that
I can no longer do the things I once did
It is clear that
My outlook towards osteoporosis should change
I expect to hear my doctor tell me
Bone can be rebuilt
I don’t believe
Treatment risks outweigh benefits
My bone health can be improved
It’s not true that
I am on a downward spiral and could end up in a wheelchair
As a person who has recently suffered a fracture

Richard Bruno, New York, New York

From: Jo Grimwade (jolyongrimwade gmail.com)
Subject: palindromic events or sequences

Some years ago, maybe early 1990s, the scorer Laurel Kirton for an interstate cricket game involving New South Wales, pointed out that the slip cordon was palindromic.

Mark TAYLOR, Mark WAUGH, Greg MATTHEWS, Steve WAUGH, and Peter TAYLOR

All of whom played cricket for Australia, with the Waughs being identical twins.

Jo Grimwade, Melbourne, Australia

From: David Norton (djnorton0 gmail.com)
Subject: palindrome

I am the author of the palindrome “Tulsa nightlife: filth, gin, a slut” which, to my surprise, began to circulate on the Internet roughly in year 2000, at which time I contacted the originator of the palindrome-plugging Web site on which I saw it in an effort, partly successful, to get my name associated with it. Your solicitation of palindromes this week gives me a second opportunity to claim credit for it, an opportunity I feel it would be smart to seize.

Some time in the 1980s, I was on a road trip with my wife and the motel we were staying in offered a circular about local nightlife, in consequence of which inspiration struck.

Any word or phrase that can be reversed into a word or phrase can serve, with that reversal, as the armature for a palindrome: one need merely insert “sides reversed, is”. A noteworthy example is “Eros, sides reversed, is sore.”

David Norton, Marlborough, Massachusetts

From: Gerald White (geraldjwhite me.com)
Subject: Palindrome

“Ad negates a set agenda.” Thought of this phrase when calling on a potential advertiser who had decided not to advertise his company’s product with my publication. Changed his mind.

Gerald White, Dubuque, Iowa

From: Danielle M Norris (readitfrog yahoo.com)
Subject: Palindromes

My birth date is a palindrome and I have always loved that! 7-6-67.

Danielle M Norris, Houston, Texas

From: Will Hobbs (willhobbs01 hotmail.com)
Subject: palindromic anniversary

In 2011, my partner noticed that 11-02-2011 and 12-02-2021 were palindromic dates. Honoring her fascination with these numbers, I proposed to her on November 2 of that year, and we tied the knot one month later. Now happily married, we’re looking forward to celebrating our 10th anniversary on the second of those two palindromic dates.

Will Hobbs, Cornelius, Oregon

From: J L Rosner (jlrathome juno.com)
Subject: Palindromes in DNA

In Molecular Biology, palindromes are common and important. For example, AGTACT on one strand of DNA would read backwards on the other: AGTACT. Often, such sequences are recognized by enzymes that do special things at those sequences, such as cut the DNA.

J L Rosner, Washington, DC

From: George Troutman (gtroutman gmail.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--ere

Ere is a personal favorite for another reason: it’s one of the words in the largest set of homonyms I have been able to discern. They are: air, ere, err, heir, and Eyre (as in Jane). Some may not count Eyre because it’s a proper noun. I do. And it’s my list. Also, to Brits err rhymes with whir. I’m American so I think, like Brexit, they’ve got it all wrong.

George Troutman, Arlington Virginia

From: Peter Bradford (peterjb1 yahoo.com)
Subject: Ecce Homo

If you’re a cockney this will be two palindromes: Ecce ‘Omo

Peter Bradford, Baltimore, Maryland

From: Nancy R Wilson (wilsonna sonic.net)
Subject: ecce

And YouTube. offers a beautiful way to hear "ecce homo".

Nancy R Wilson, Petaluma, California

From: Administrator (fusemail abrahammoss.manchester.sch.uk)
Subject: ALERT: Profane message stopped

The IT department has automatically stopped an email sent by you to [username-deleted]@abrahammoss.manchester.sch.uk because it contained profanity. The use of profane language contravenes the company's email Acceptable Usage Policy. If you require further information, please contact the IT Helpdesk.

Stopped message details:
Policy: Homophobic Block

Administrator, Manchester, UK

Dear Email Nanny,

I applaud your efforts to protect schoolkids' innocent minds from slurs, but mindless keyword filtering doesn't work. Did you realize you yourself used the word that offended you in "Policy: Homophobic Block"? "Ecce Homo" is bad? How do your students learn about Homo sapiens? If software is any indication, our species has far to go before calling itself sapiens. Anyway, speaking of keyword filtering, here's the key word for you to consider: context.

Anu Garg

From: Barbara Saczawa (bsaczawa cox.net)
Subject: Minim

As a child with a birthday just days into January, I was too young to start school in our local school system. As I could already read, my parents sent me to a nearby girls' convent school. The Convent of the Sacred Heart was run by a liberal order of nuns in that they really engaged with the students, and the order originated in France. Many French words were utilized at the school, and the younger children were called minims. It's been many years (60+) since I've seen the term, and it brought back many memories.

Barbara Saczawa, Scottsdale, Arizona

From: Rich Ball (richball comcast.net)
Subject: Wait a Minim

I am familiar with this word by way of a South African musical revue which I saw in Chicago in 1968. The show, Wait a Minim, ran for six years on five continents, including two years in London and two more on Broadway.

The show was an entertainment, not primarily a political statement. But it was concocted in Johannesburg, SA, by talented young performers and musicians who were contemptuous of the apartheid government. That point of view colored the humor of the show and its original songs composed by Jeremy Taylor. Hear Black and White Calypso about which Jeremy Taylor said that in South Africa he sang it on stage with apprehensions for his life. He was eventually banned from the country for singing such ideas.

This show has had a more profound influence on my life than any other theatrical event I have seen. I am grateful to its creators. If anyone is looking for this music, I'd be happy to help them find it, just to keep it going.

Rich Ball, Oak Park, Illinois

From: Jon von Gunten (jon globescope.us)
Subject: Two-way Studebaker

A visual palindrome was the famous two-way Studebaker, made between 1947 and 1952. Their sloping hood and trunk earned them humorous nicknames.

Jon von Gunten, Los Angeles, California

From: Alex McCrae (ajmccrae277 gmail.com)
Subject: Ere and Eve

In my middle-school English lit classroom scenario, the almost homophonic trumps the palindromic, where young student, Otto, in his fine cursive hand has just transcribed one of Alexander Pope's most familiar and profound passages of poesy.^* But as teacher Ms. Salas points out, he's erroneously used the palindrome "ere", which sounds much like the correct word, "err".
^*This passage is from Pope's 1711 poem, An Essay on Criticism/Part II. The essence of his message being, while anyone can make a mistake, we mere mortals should aspire to what God would do, i.e., show mercy and forgive all sinners.

Inspired by Anu Garg's engaging preamble introducing this week's "palindromes" word-theme, where he alluded to the original Eve of Old Testament/Garden of Eden fame as an exemplar of a palindromic name of note, I came up with this diptych, of sorts, depicting mankind's (and womenkind's) alleged first progenitor... dare I say, "first mum"?, from "both sides now" (apologies to tunesmith Joni Mitchell)... frontal and backside views, attempting to symbolically echo the fact that her name means exactly the same read forwards and backwards -- a bona fide palindrome if there ever was one. Of course, I had to interject the malevolent, cajoling serpent, who tempts Eve, as she beholds the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. The unkindest bite of all must surely follow... not the wily snake's, but Eve's ultimately yielding to temptation and partaking of the flesh of the "forbidden fruit".

Alex McCrae, Van Nuys, California

From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
Subject: Anagrams of this week's words


This week's theme - Palindromes: ere ecce minim tirrit murdrum	=	Plus (a win!) cc sis eke heh mum tenet redder emit time mirror rim
-Dharam Khalsa, Burlington, North Carolina (dharamkk2 gmail.com)

From: Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)
Subject: Limericks

I'm tearing my hair in despair,
'Cause my hair dryer's needing repair!
And I can't fix it ere
Tonight's formal affair;
I declare! I just haven't a prayer!
-Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (Bindy eurekaevanston.com)

Said Eve in the garden one day,
"I hope, my old dear, there's a way
For you, since you’re strong,
To discover ere long
What that beast in the tree has to say.”
-Marcia Sinclair, Newmarket, Canada (marciasinclair rogers.com)

Ere I had sons, I knew not the joy
I’d come to know from raising a boy.
Today they are grown
And well on their own,
Each with a wife they can now annoy.
-Lois Mowat, Orinda, California (lmowat1810 gmail.com)

Said the hare, “I’ll make no more mistakes;
I won’t sleep, I’ll drink large power shakes.”
Ere the race had begun,
Though, the wrong way he’d run;
Those who bet on him ‘gain lost their stakes.
-Shyamal Mukherji, Mumbai, India( mukherjis hotmail.com)

We’ll have a new leader ere long;
‘Til then I shall try to stay strong.
Right now I complain,
But soon I’ll refrain --
I’ll happily sing a new song!
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

Your life is your journey to take
with important decisions to make.
Dear child, I hope ere
you choose, you take care
and consider all outcomes at stake.
-Zelda Dvoretzky, Haifa, Israel (zeldahaifa gmail.com)

I think that it’s very unfair
To end limerick lines with “ere”.
You can say it’s, “....ere long”,
In that old Cohan song,
But to end on it is quite a scare.
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

On each side of your head near your hair,
There’s an ear, which does NOT rhyme with “ere”.
Seems we learn something new
Every day from Anu;
Teach us well, Mr. Garg, hear our prayer!
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

She sent off her boyfriend to fetch a
Half-gallon of lactose-free leche.
He came home all gleesome,
Said, “Let’s have a threesome
With Lisa the check-out girl -- Ecce!”
-Phil Graham, Tulsa, Oklahoma (pgraham1946 cox.net)

Her dress, the guy states, is too prim.
That’s why she’s decided to trim
off its top. She cries “Ecce!
You like the low neck, eh?
But wait, this is just a prelim!”
-Anne Thomas, Sedona, Arizona (antom earthlink.net)

Definition for “Ecce”: “Behold”,
Not a word that’s exactly household.
But since Anu said “Learn it,”
Subscribers won’t spurn it;
We’re learning more words now. Tenfold!
-Joe Budd Stevens, MD, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico(joebuddstevens gmail.com)

Said the gangster with futile dismay
As the cops yelled, “It’s Willie. Ecce!”
“Oh, such trouble I’ve wrought,
But so now I’ve been caught,
Finally proving that crime doesn’t pay.”
-Judith Marks-White, Westport, Connecticut (joodthmw gmail.com)

In the olden days people would say,
Words like, zounds, and gadzooks, and ecce.
They’re all replaced now,
By just saying, “Wow”,
And we don’t say “Behold”, we say “Hey!”
-Joan Perrin, Port Jefferson Station, New York (perrinjoan aol.com)

In Madrid over café con leche,
Cervantes jumped up and cried, “Ecce!
I shall write of a knight
Who a windmill will fight!”
But his wife said, “Your head needs an X-Ray.”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

Well, the last time my dog’s barber saw
My dear pooch was for sure the last straw.
Though I’d asked for “the minim,”
He must have heard “skin ‘im!”
He scraped my poor puppy’s hide raw!
-Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (Bindy eurekaevanston.com)

Little minim’s a word meaning “least”;
Minim’s use has become much increased.
It has grandiose leanings
With three other meanings:
A note, drop, and stroke. What a feast!
-Sara Hutchinson, New Castle, Delaware (sarahutch2003 yahoo.com)

I’m trying to stay in the pink --
A minim of booze will I drink.
But my, that’s good stuff!
A sip’s not enough;
I’ll knock back another, I think.
-Marion Wolf, Bergenfield, New Jersey (marionewolf yahoo.com)

With a few grains of truth, just a minim,
Pols will see just how far they can spin ‘em.
We all keep on hopin’
They’ll start being open.
Just think all the votes that would win ‘em!
-Zelda Dvoretzky, Haifa, Israel (zeldahaifa gmail.com)

There’s a minim of truth in his chatter
With the despots he chooses to flatter.
Many things that he’s said
Fill our hearts full of dread,
And methinks there’s a dearth of grey matter.
-Gayle Tremblay, Saint John, Canada (gayletremblay hotmail.com)

To be washing your sheets is a bore,
When upstairs there’s a girl you adore.
If the dirt’s at a minim,
Just rinse ‘em and spin ‘em,
But thoroughly dry them to score
. -Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

Now, a tirrit’s not something you’d have
If there’s any old way you could salve
Your pent-up emotions;
But bartenders’ potions
Might possibly get it to halve.
-Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (Bindy eurekaevanston.com)

Every time he goes into a tirrit,
The whole world has good reason to fear it.
Each tantrum and tizzy
Keeps arms dealers busy;
The end of the line -- are we near it?
-Zelda Dvoretzky, Haifa, Israel (zeldahaifa gmail.com)

The old bully is on the attack,
As for tirrits he’s got quite a knack.
Donald leaves our heads reeling
With sly double-dealing;
From scandal he bounces right back.
-Gayle Tremblay, Saint John, Canada (gayletremblay hotmail.com)

“You’ve caused me a terrible tirrit!”
Said Scrooge to the visiting spirit.
“It’s time for a parley,”
Replied Jacob Marley,
“You’re screwed if at Yule you don’t cheer it.”
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

“While the girl was just eating her curds, some
evil-bent creature, we’ve heard’s come;
and she’s disappeared.
Abduction, as feared,”
says the sheriff, “and possible murdrum!”
-Anne Thomas, Sedona, Arizona (antom earthlink.net)

He’s committed democracy’s murdrum,
But the voters next year will be heard from.
Till we stop Donald’s clowning,
Each night I’ll be downing
A first, then a second and third rum.
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

From: Phil Graham (pgraham1946 cox.net)
Subject: You might rather hear Sarah Palindrome on and on

No one loved Jane ere she ran off and found Rochester.

Care to ecce sketch?

His words were terse... but he minim.

Don’t cry on my shoulder, you’ll tirrit.

If I get a peep on my radar that Bob and Otto tried to level Anna with their racecar, I’ll murdrum.

Phil Graham, Tulsa, Oklahoma

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The less a statesman amounts to, the more he loves the flag. -Kin Hubbard, humorist (1 Sep 1868-1930)

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