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| forgo, soupy, lesson, tattle, top sellers.Image from the Internet.
The opening poem contains all the words (or variations of them) from today's Jumble.
Comments are welcomed! And couching them in Poetry is definitely NOT required.
Do not explicitly reveal any of the actual answer words until after closing time, but embedding them surreptitiously in comment sentences is encouraged.
18 comments:
[Lois has some advice for Chet as a new Speaker]
Keep it simple, my friend , and forego the gory details
Stick to the basic lesson: What happened, your epic fails
How you found your way out of the soup : Your path to sobriety
That is your road from the cellar to the tops of society
Remember foremost our tradition of anonymity
No tattling: No names and places, just proximity
WC
When drunks tell tales, they fall into a certain category.
Here's an example of one from my collection of...
"Sop Tellers"
The tattle-tale said they'd smoked so much weed
they felt walking was "soupy," like wading through broth.
"I learned my lesson, Coach, I have a new creed:
it's to forgo smoking hash even when dressed a la Goth."
~ OMK
"Gossip Girl"
Susie was both loopy and snoopy,
sharing much gossip that was soupy.
Many tales and secrets she would tattle
that often her friends did rattle.
So her pals met and held a session
on how to teach her a lesson.
They told Susie that she should know
that their friendship she may have to forego.
And unless her gossip she'd stop
as a friend, they would her drop.
She was shocked by this news from her fellers
and promised to stop being a teller
and a popular gossip seller.
As a friend she's now back at the top
since all her gossip she did stop.
Sounds like clever advice, Wilbur, although I believe an occasional "gory detail" adds credibility--and, er, juiciness.
It's only human nature to hear how the next guy screwed the worst pooch in the kennel.
But I agree with the "No names" rule. "Just proximity" is a cute evasion.
~ OMK
Interesting that this morning all three of us are telling recovery stories!
Wilbur, I'm so glad Lois keeps giving Chet good advice.
And Ol' Man Keith, I worried about your tattler for a moment, but it looks as though he's giving up drugs, thank goodness.
I would say my Susie's addiction is a bit less problematic than those of your guys, but it still created lots of social problems that she had to address and fix.
But, as I say, recovery all around--Woohoo!
A fun story: your Susie is a quick learner. The "mills" aren't so frequent these days, Misty, and you gain a neat punch by reserving one for your final line. For comic verse, I think we can get away with murder in our conclusion.
I really appreciated your triple rhyme (fellers/teller/seller) because it broke the steady throb of the couplets.
(But don't her pals miss out on the gossip--just a little bit?)
~ OMK
I gotta be honest, Misty: I wouldn't trust my tattler's claim of abstinence.
I'm sure he means well in the moment, but... sheesh...
~ OMK
Remind me what "mills" are again, OMK?
It's when the parts of speech "mill" around to an awkward order.
Often reversing verb and object--as a shortcut to helping a rhyme ("...all her gossip she did stop" * instead of "she stopped her gossip").
As a Victorian trick this used to be acceptable. It survives on Hallmark cards now, as quaint and artificial.
FLN: Oh, and BTW, did you see my long note at the end of yesterday's postings? It has some more info regarding rhythm & rhyme.
~ OMK
___________
* But as I say, not awful when used in a fanciful wrap-up.
Misty, here are some "mills"
"And unless her gossip she'd stop
as a friend, they would her drop."
I see the need for rhyme. But….
Her friends promised "Drop the gossip!"
And your life will surely begin to profit "
WC
Gossip didn't have a lot of rhymes.
But you only need to use "gossip " once. Rhyme Zone Thesaurus has this list for gosdip:
scuttlebutt
2. chatter
3. chitchat
4. natter
5. chat
6. rumormonger
7. gab
8. confabulate
9. gabfest
10. small talk
11. comment
12. confab
13. visit
14. chaffer
15. jaw
16. causerie
17. chin-wag
18. chin-wagging
19. newsmonger
20. rumourmonger
21. tittle-tattle
22. Claver
23. rumor
24. banter
25. blab
26. hearsay
27. talk
28. schmooze
29. yenta
30. loudmouth
31. waffle
32. verbiage
33. rumour
34. talker
35. dirt
36. dish
37. hen
38. school
39. bat
40. gossipmonger
41. tattle
42. celebrity
Yenta would have been a good one
Thanks for chiming in, Wilbur. That "they would her drop" line is less comfortable to my ear because it isn't in a final couplet.
Misty adds a challenge to her basic task, in that she prefers, whenever she can, to place the clue words in the end positions, to rhyme them each.
Of course, neither "gossip" nor "stop" is a clue word, but once in that frame of mind, it probably feels right to keep up a degree of artifice.
I do think you can get way with stuff in the last line, as anything offbeat can sound like a punch line.
My favorite way of marking a comic conclusion is to switch from ABAB to a rhyming couplet AND to do something else a bit weird.
BTW, I couldn't find the Frankenstein reference you mentioned from Anon-T yesterday. Can you make it more explicit?
Thanks!
~ OMK
Thank you, Ol' Man Keith, for explaining "mill" to me--very helpful.
But, my goodness, Wilbur, you've outdone yourself not only with your lovely suggestion for a simple, non-mill rhyme, but followed by your 42 gossip words ('hen'? 'celebrity'). This has to be the longest post we've ever seen on this Jumble site.
Sorry, OMK, I just saw your question about my Frankenstein reference, but I'm afraid I don't know how to access yesterday's Jumble and don't remember what I said. (Seniority--can't live with it, can't live without it).
That's OK, Misty. It is Wilbur's Frankenstein reference I was trying to find. He said Anon-T had posted something on the Corner.
To access my poetry notes on yesterday's Jumble, you only need to click on the July 23rd date in the right hand column of the page.
BTW, did you see what I did with today's solution--in the title to my poem?
"Sop Tellers."
Heheheh.
~ OMK
Oops, Wilbur!
(Sorry: I can't help myself.)
cc. to Misty.
Drop "begin to" from the 2nd line of your proposed fix to Misty's mill.
"And your life will surely profit" is the right 4-beat equal to the 1st line.
I know you like those long Frenchified lines, but...
~ OMK
OMK, oh yes, I did think "Sop Tellers" was a clever riff on "Top Sellers" for your verse title this morning, given that smoking weed and hash made your guys feel like they were walking through soup.
Thanks -
Not so clever on my part, as it's a natural Spoonerism!
In working up a backstory, I really wanted it to be "Sot" rather than "Sop," so it could be a more obvious reference to a drunk's story.
I really do wonder why "Sop" isn't a perfect name for a drunk.
When you think about it, it can easily refer to someone who sops up all sorts of booze.
~ OMK
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