Comments on: It'll go over well in Nantucket...

It'll go over well in Nantucket...

Vidiot — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 00:42:12 -0800

The OEDILF is an audacious project which is attempting to write a limerick for every word in the English language. 642 limericks have been completed so far. Here's an overview of the project. Is it possible? Here's what editor-in-chief Chris J. Stolin says:

Skeptics say it's inconceivable.
A new OED? Unbelievable!
But I feel secure
That if we only endure,
It's a goal that is wholly achievable!

(via languagehat.)

By: Duck_Lips

Duck_Lips — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 00:57:21 -0800

-I think this is a re-post, June 18, (supra) but it is fun!

By: Vidiot

Vidiot — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 01:11:55 -0800

Shoot, you're right. Sorry. (I searched for "limerick" on the Google search; don't know why it didn't return that one.)

By: rory

rory — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 02:06:05 -0800

Never mind, I missed it last time, and this is my kinda challenge! Take, for example, the definition of "acanthopterygii"... a superorder or other category of teleost fishes containing originally all those having the anterior rays of the dorsal and anal fins stiff and spiny (as the basses, perches, and mackerels) ... If you can condense this into just five lines with an AABBA rhyming pattern, please contact us! We're having one hell of a time with this one. The acanthopterygii fishes Are good in all kinds of fish dishes They're ever so briny Their fins are quite spiny And overall they taste delicious

By: ed\26h

ed\26h — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 02:29:28 -0800

Was going to say "they have to be A/A/B/B/A, right?"... In which case this isn't valid (A/A/B/BB/A).

By: Pretty_Generic

Pretty_Generic — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 04:14:53 -0800

The extra B's just a bonus, it doesn't invalidate it. Also, this is FANTASTIC!

By: jfuller

jfuller — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 05:06:25 -0800

The project will founder on rhymes for "orange"

By: Blue Stone

Blue Stone — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 05:20:06 -0800

Dale Winton is clearly quite orange, The result of a new tanning lozenge: "Heez skeen eez all ourz, But heez startled eyebrahs Are ze rezult of an un-oiled door hinge."

By: Blue Stone

Blue Stone — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 05:30:44 -0800

By: ed\26h

ed\26h — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 07:42:58 -0800

PG: Uh, OK man.

By: fold_and_mutilate

fold_and_mutilate — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 07:55:38 -0800

The project will founder on rhymes for "orange" My scurvy friend Came round the bend Another orange He did sponge No more for expensive vitamin C tablets from the local pharmacy did he send.

By: Sidhedevil

Sidhedevil — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 08:26:02 -0800

Given that the limerick offered by the editor as a vote of confidence in the project doesn't scan, I am a bit dubious. JFuller, no need to rhyme "orange"--no rule that the word in question has to be at the end of the line. Is "orange" a word with no rhyme? I've been hearing that said for some time By pedant grammarians And Metafilterians-- I'll take twelve of 'em. Here is my dime.

By: mosch

mosch — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 11:57:04 -0800

This project is geeky and fun, but some things are best left undone. These defining rhymes are a huge waste of time. So why do I want to write one?

By: mmoncur

mmoncur — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 15:03:48 -0800

This thread will devolve into endless limericks or maybe haiku.

By: PinkStainlessTail

PinkStainlessTail — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 15:10:11 -0800

You know what would impress me? Sestinas. Lots and lots of sestinas.

By: DaShiv

DaShiv — Thu, 19 Aug 2004 02:24:39 -0800

If the devil ran writing workshops in Hell, he would assign sestinas every day.

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Thu, 19 Aug 2004 12:56:18 -0800

Sidhedevil, very clever, but yours also doesn't scan. I only point it out because you made the comment I was gonna make about the one in the FPP.