Comments | elanid: this is what I do instead of studying chinese

elanid

this is what I do instead of studying chinese

Dec 05, 2008 19:31

A mimulus plant in distress
Makes pigments that help it survive:
While boo mutants die under stress,
The wild-type pinks tend to thrive.

In other news: still loving my department LIKE YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE. Okay. :D

doggerel, science

Comments 11

lady_puck9999 December 6 2008, 03:37:21 UTC

Ah, little poems. I <3 them. I used to be baller at writing limericks in under two minutes. I told this to a twelve ear old today, and he asked me what a limerick was. I tried to explain it without referencing "The girl from Nantucket."

elanid December 6 2008, 03:41:02 UTC

Something is wrong with this one, and I am hoping somebody will explain to me what it is, but I dunno. Limericks are fun, though - the problem is that they are ALL dirty. They are practically not limericks if they aren't dirty! Isn't there one about a fly in a soup, though? I forget the one I used to use to make sure I got the meter right - now I just sorta make it up.

Is good at two minute limericks a skill which you have retained? :D

lady_puck9999 December 6 2008, 03:45:29 UTC

I don't know. I'm out of practice. It used to be a habit. I once spent an entire science class writing limericks about pirates. I'm pretty sure I rhymed something with "entrails" during that time. I also told one of my friends "I'm going to write a limerick about you," then went to go pee. By the time I came back from the bathroom, I had a limerick about her wearing tin foil on her head (there was a reason... long story)

I just need to get back in the limerick swing... and I agree that there is something odd about that little poem. Possibly you just have to think too hard about where the emphasis goes. It could be easily read incorrectly, I think. The emphasis goes on odd words.

elanid December 6 2008, 03:52:10 UTC

Entrails! Tinfoil! I wrote a limerick about my friend's math professor (and one about, um, the Luria-Delbruck experiment...), but I do not think I have written one with entrails in. Hmm, entrails. Entrails...

I was wondering if the problem is maybe the variable pronunciation of "wild" - as in, one syllable or two? But I think it's earlier than that. Latinate words scan so badly. >.O (Oh, it's actually the second line, isn't it. Hmmmm.)

Thread 11