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Saturday, June 26, 2021

June 26, 2021

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| | dodge, zesty, donkey, pardon, doodads.
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.

13 comments:

Sandyanon said...

The gizmo, thingamajig, whatchamacallit.

More specifically, the clicker or the zapper.

I kind of like whatsis.

Ol' Man Keith said...

"Whooz Dat?"
"Pardon my dodge," said the grifter,
"It's a prank, OK, but it's just for fun.
I thought you'd like it. He's a donkey,
all right? so you don't need a gun!

"He's not a monster; he'll come when I call.
Here, 'Zesty,' here boy! -- I've got your ball!"
~ OMK

OwenKL said...

Went down south to see my gal,
Doo-da, doo-da,
A donkey's face that is my Sal,
All the doo-dad ay!

Had to dodge a revenuer.
Moonshine's good, but mountain's dewer!

Led him on a rapid chase,
Then tried to bribe him with a case!

He brought me in to see the judge,
He took my booze but wouldn't budge!

Called Gov'nor Jim at his manse,
Asked him to give me another chance!

Sent him some samples of my dew.
"For such zesty stuff, I'll pardon you!"

Now Sal and me, we are a team!
Our liquor makes even old Jim beam!

Misty said...

"Critters"

Loving pets, she got a monkey,
and next year, she got a donkey.
The critters made her life more zesty
even when they were sometimes testy.
So, in summer she rented a lodge
where her pets could play and dodge.
She bought them toys and doodads
and used them to make cute ads.
But when they broke into her neighbor's garden
she had to apologize and ask for his pardon.
Yes, pets are both a mess and a plight,
but they're worth it when they're a delight.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Now that is a classic, Owen!
You caused me to burst into song right away, even while lying abed.
My Boy Scout troop would have sung this in camp--if we'd had access to it back in The Day.
I really appreciated seeing my old go-to grad school beverage honored in your final line!

Ah, Misty ~
How fortunate "she" was, to have so many critters, and the space to keep them in!
Lucky beasts to be well looked after, with doo-dads and everything! WooHoo!!
Smart of her to find the way to monetize (is that the word these days?) her large menagerie. The ad revenue must have been rolling in.

Thank you both for brightening the start of the weekend!
~ OMK

Ol' Man Keith said...

Owen's verses pose an interesting puzzle.
He is more aware of traditional models than I am. But as I recall, most quatrains that only use their alternate lines to rhyme, do so on the 2nd and 4th lines.
Today's musical example lets the rhymes fall on the 1st and 3rd lines, resorting to "Doo-dah" and "Doo-dah-day" on the 2nd and 4th.
I wonder if this is commonly a practice in old songs.
This one is based on "Camptown Races," but when I think of other Stephen Foster songs, they all rhyme on the 2nd and 4th, or strictly in couplets.
~ OMK

Wilbur Charles said...

Misty will like this one

"I love that little doodad you gave me on my anniversary"
Lois was telling Chet , "But accepting it made me a bit wary"
"I felt like a donkey" stated Chet, "Pardon my French"
"I hardly knew you, except I thought you were the cutest little wench".

"I didn't think you had it in you, my zesty frien. That was so sweet.
When I saw you approach that day, my heart skipped a beat
I thought of hiding or dodging like perhaps the girls room
But the smile on your face, the gleam in your eye made my heart swoon"

WC

Sandyanon said...

Wilbur must be pretty confident of Lois' feelings to call her a "wench". isn't that a very casual, not to say pejorative, term? Ah well, Lois is, in fact, predisposed in Chet's favor, so it'll be fine.

Misty said...

I had friends coming by for lunch today, and so was busy all day, and only now came back to read all the comments and verses. What a terrific array of offerings.

Sandy's fun play on words got us started, and then came OMK's clever verse which once again gave us a pet--this one named "Zesty"! This was followed by Owen's musical beginning, whose melody started right up in my head too, although I needed Keith to remind me that it came from "Campdown Races." And, oh yes, Wilbur, you are so right, I really liked the pert romantic exchange between Chet and Lois, which was a delight.

Thank you, everybody, for all these Saturday treats!

Ol' Man Keith said...

I liked that one too, Wilbur!
Especially your oh-so-clever third line.
That gave me a smile out loud moment.
I think there is a technical name for that kind of joke, but I don't know what it is. I call it a "step off" gag--because it is a play on an unwritten (or unspoken) word that is one step away from the word being used.

It isn't always used as a joke, but can also be just a play on words. The Brits use this technique all the time with their Cockney rhyming slang. The one example that occurs to me happens, by coincidence, to use the word "donkey."
Hands up if you know this one:
If a Brit wants to say that something happened a long time ago, he might say,
"It's been donkeys!"
And everyone knows what he means*.
~ OMK
____________
*
He means "years," of course--because the old slang rhyme for it was "donkeys' ears."

Ol' Man Keith said...

Yes--thank you, Sandy for the entertaining riff on Doodads. Ain't language grand?
Or, as Laurie Anderson put it, it's a virus!
(Hey! Are you talking to me?!)

Thanks for the favorable notice, Misty.
And "Zesty" thanks you as well. Glad you caught my newly named beast!
He joins "Shuffles," "Rover," "Achiever," "Deacon," and "Uncle Grimly."
And we mustn't forget "Manure," who was fortunately transformed into "Gandhi"!

It sure is a handy way of dealing with an outlier word. As before, I acknowledge my debt to you for the idea. You are an inspiration!
~ OMK

Wilbur Charles said...

Sandy, I've been skipping ahead on Chet and Lois. They are reminiscing on the start of the romance. Some time has passed and they are at least a couple.

"Wench" could be anything; Chet felt it would be a compliment and Lois somewhat returns the favor.

I just hope all this romancing doesn't deter them from meeting-making. AA saying: Meeting makers make it

And Misty, I know how you like happy endings. And...

I'm constantly amazed at Owen's creativity

Wilbur Charles said...

And OMK, I had to look back at those lines. Stuff just comes off my fingers. Probably the unconscious part of the mind.

In fact over at CC before preview erased my post I was commenting about how saturday xwords that are a blank come together mysteriously.