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Tuesday, December 31, 2013

What Does Macaronic Mean?


Macaronic

If ever vous read a verse
Or poème that seems to converse
In not only one langue but in deux
The nom of such a sonnet
Is known as Macaronic
As this poor exemple tries to prove.


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What Does Labile Mean?



Labile

Bear with me a sec and I’ll
Tell you all about “Labile
Which does refer to unstable emotions,
Specifically of someone who’s
Constantly changing their mood
Up and down like waves upon the ocean!

For example you might see
A person who might seem happy
Then suddenly they snap and become sad
Then just as quickly they might be
Mad, then sad then happily
Telling you that now they feel glad!

When faced with someone in this state
You can confidently state
That a person like this is labile
But, probably don’t mention it
To them or they might have a fit
Proving that their feelings are fragile!


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Monday, December 30, 2013

Thought for the Day

If you listen more than you talk
When you talk you'll be worth a listen.
If you read more than you write
When you write you'll be read.


                     - Kerin Gedge-

The Meaning of Kaffiyeh


Kaffiyeh

If while in Arabia
Someone gives you a kaffiyeh
That would be a useful acquisition,

It is a scarf worn on one's head
To spare one from the sun’s hot dread
Using a cord to keep it in position


Copyright 2013




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Saturday, December 28, 2013

What Does Naafi Mean?



Naafi

Naafi is an acronym
Hailing from British origin
"Navy, Army, Airforce, Institute"

Providing shops, that sort of thing
Pubs, clubs also canteens,
For soldiers on base in need of new loot.


Copyright 2013



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Click HERE to search The Vocabuverse by Letter





What Does Macabre Mean?



Macabre

Death is not so nice a thing
Its aspects can be frightening
Especially when amplified in scale,
Macabre then is the horrible
Grizzly and deplorable
Relating of one’s death in grim detail.

"Danse macabre", said the old French
That is to say the "Dance of Death"
Probably a reference in those days
To the ancient Maccabees
Who were slaughtered so horribly
Depicted in a medieval play…


Copyright 2013




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What is a Jack?


Jack

Prepare yourself to brave the stack
Of meanings for the small word Jack
A word that means a multitude of things
For example I found out
It is a flag that flaps about
On a ship to say from whence it springs

In Bowls, the game some old folk play,
A jack is the white ball which they
Aim at when they roll their balls around
On that note let’s not forget
A Jack’s the small pointy object
You play with when playing Jacks while on the ground

I’ve also come to understand
That a jack most often can
Simply be a word that just refers
To nothing other than a man
As in “the jack of all trades can
fix anything” is something that I’ve heard

Of course I am not finished yet
It would be silly to forget
That a jack is used under your car
Or any heavy thing that can
Not be picked up by a man
Mechanical unlike the plain crowbar

If you’re cooking on a spit
A sheep, a cow or glazed piglet
A jack is a clever wee contraption
That will turn your roast around
While you crank the handle round
Making possible the spinning action!

And that hole in your PC
Or whatever plays your MP3s
The one in which your headphones plug into
The one that techy geeks refer
As being in point of fact a “her”
That little hole for plugs is a jack too!

And although there is probably
More things that a jack can be
I would like to close by stating that
A masculine male donkey
Is also apparently,
Yep you guessed it, is also a jack!


Copyright 2013







Click HERE to search The Vocabuverse by Letter



Friday, December 27, 2013

What is an Iberian?



Iberian

Anything which does relate
To human beings that populate
The lands that we call Portugal and Spain

Or the languages they speak
Even the sandwiches they eat
Are thought of as Iberian by name


Copyright 2013




What is a Haberdashery?



Haberdashery

Within the Haberdashery
You will find apparently
It is a place where sewing stuff is sold,
Dressmaking materials
Buttons, cotton on reels
And all that sort of stuff or so I'm told.

And within that kind of store
It is not easy to ignore
That the haberdasher is the chap
Who sells that kind of stuff you see
But also it’s occurred to me
That some also sell men’s clothes, gloves and caps.


Copyright 2013







Thursday, December 26, 2013

The Meaning of Actuate



Actuate

The time has come to contemplate
The two meanings of Actuate
The first to cause to act or to impel,
For example you might say
“My need to throw my socks away
Was actuated by their dreadful smell!”

But another implication
Is the one of activation
Like when pushing the “on switch” on a thing,
So instead of activating
You could say, “I’m actuating
My cell phone in case someone tries to ring”


Copyright 2013





What is a Laager?



Laager 

Here's a handy thing to know
If in a caravan you go
And suddenly a battle must be fought

Arrange your transport in a square
And I purport you fight from there
Inside a laager or a wagon-fort!


Here's a tune to help you memorize it!


Copyright 2013

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Who were the Magi?



The Magi

There is a story we all know
From millennia ago
About the night when the Good Lord was born,
When angels sang to shepherds poor
And from the east magi explored
To find him so to him gifts to adorn.

Most of us unwittingly
Have so assumed that there were three
Of these wise men the Bible calls “Magi”,
But in truth we do not know,
The Bible does not tell us so,
If three there were when it could have been five!

“Magi” is of course Latin
But no doubt has its origins
From “Magoi” which of course we know is Greek
That describes a most select
Particular and Persian sect
Of important people who were priests.

As a side if you like tricks
From it we get the word “Magic,
That is to say from Magoi comes magician!
But that’s enough, I won’t digress
The story has been embellished
Over the years by popular tradition...

By Century number three
The magi had apparently
Become known to everyone as kings!
By the Century number six
Names had also been affixed
To these kings of oriental spring -

Bithisarea was one
Gathaspa another one
Melichior the name of third,
But how these random names arose
Or came about, nobody knows
For in Matthew their names are never heard!

Some ancient traditions
Even place them in position
With the sons of none other than Noah,
For the Bible tells us that
Noah’s sons went and begat
The populations of all Terra Nova...

So I guess it was believed
And commonly received
That these kings of old they represented
The Kingdoms of all Africa
Europe and all of Asia
When to Christ their three gifts were presented.

But by the fourteenth century
What we know from history
Is that the names of these three kings had changed
To Gasper and Melchior
Balthasar, all three leaders
Similar with letters rearranged…

So what in fact we really know
About the Magi long ago
Is they were a priesthood of the Medes,
And it has indeed been found
That they had a most profound
Awareness of religion and creeds...

Darius who was called Great
Established them over the state
Religion of all his Persian Realm
And in actual fact they were
Advisors and counsellors
For many years to those who wore the crown.

Now we know from History
That Israel met with tragedy
And for some time we know the ancient Jews
Spent time in captivity
For decades temporarily
Relocated so to pay their dues.

And so the Good Book it does tell
About the man called Daniel
Who became one day the Magi’s Chief,
And so from him some scholars say
It could well have been conveyed
The prophecies of old Hebrew belief...

So by the time that Jesus came
The politics was not the same
Judah now kept underneath the thumb
By the Roman empire
That by their might had then acquired
Many lands of which Judah was one

But there was another might
The Parthians, a mighty blight
Of whom the ancient Persians were a part,
It was from them the Magi came
In search of the one whose name
Would inspire more than ten billion hearts.

When they came into the land
It must have scared the little man
Herod whom Augustus had made king,
Insulting him with open scorn
"Where is the baby who was BORN
To be King and lord of everything?"

When eventually they came
To the house in Bethlehem
They found the child in his mother’s arms
And gave to him gold for a king
Frankincense a priestly thing
And myrhh, an ointment used so to embalm.

Maybe it could be that you
Don't believe the tale is true
But there's one thing that can't be denied
For more than many centuries
The Western World especially
Has been graced with the joy of Yuletide...

Copyright 2013






Special thanks to Dr Chuck Missler for his article Who Were the Magi? Published on the Koinonia House web site.





What Does Gloria In Excelsis Deo Mean?



In Excelsis Deo

In latin we sometimes say
Normally on Christmas Day
Gloria in excelsis deo
In English so exemplified
By “Glory be to God Most High”
For giving us his Son some time ago

Copyright 2013









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Tuesday, December 24, 2013

What is Kabuki?



Kabuki

The country famous for it's sushi
Also gave us the kabuki
An art specific to the Japanese

Costumed in complex detail
The female parts performed by males
Singing, dancing, acting to appease.

Copyright 2013











What is a Jabberwocky?



Jabberwocky

A Jabberwocky is a thing
That's not a thing at all
A piece of writing that's nonsensical
Like if a dizzy donkey ding
Barked a warbling apron string
That would be incomprehensible!

This limerick although it's sweet
Would indeed be incomplete
If I didn't take the time to pass
The information that the name
Jabberwocky found it's fame
In a book called Through the Looking Glass...

Copyright 2013








What is the Meaning of Iatrogenic?




Iatrogenic

I went to see a doctor where
I put my health into his care
But boy did I get more than bargained for!
Thanks to the "experts" negligence
I caught from him a pestilence
And left the clinic worse off than before.

Thanks to iatrogenesis,
The doctor's dodgy practices,
I can say I am in way more pain
Not only from his fees
But because now I'm diseased
And my dull-brained doctor is to blame!

Copyright 2013






Monday, December 23, 2013

What is Habeas Corpus?




Habeas corpus

Allow me now please to explain
That if a prisoner is detained
It must be ascertained before the court
Whether his detention's fair
And whether he should remain there
And so before a judge the suspect's brought,

So Liberty is not abused
We call the writ then that is used
Habeas corpus terming the concept
The legal process that ensures
A persons rights are not ignored
And that one can not be unfairly kept!



Saturday, December 21, 2013

What is an Actuary?



Actuary

An actuary is a chap
Who’s good at math and stuff like that
A statistician to be more precise,
He works for companies that sell
Insurance to their clientele
And offers his employer such advice
As how to manage jeopardy
And risky possibilities
Using numbers to evaluate
Just how much the customer
Should pay to the insurer.
Premiums are what he calculates!
what does fabricate mean? what is the meaning of fabricate? how do you fabricate? what is the definition of fabrication? other words for lying. poems about fabrication, fabrication in a sentence
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What is a Gable?




I had a house the roof of which
Was pointy, angular and pitched
Making the wall beneath triangular

Which meant that I could say my wall
Was best described as a gable
And not one typically rectangular.

What is the Meaning of Fabricate?




Fabricate

Allow me to pontificate
What it means to fabricate
To invent, concoct or to create

To build something or to construct
A house, a boat, a big red truck
From lot’s of parts a great big thing to make

However if I was to state
A lie, a tale untrue and fake
That would be also a fabrication

For example if I said,
“I am afraid that I am dead”
To get out of an awkward situation
what does fabricate mean? what is the meaning of fabricate? how do you fabricate? what is the definition of fabrication? other words for lying. poems about fabrication, fabrication in a sentence


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What is Acrylic?




Acrylic

Acrylic is a substance that
You wouldn't want to feed your cat
However it’s a useful thing to use

A synthetic resin which
Is used in fibres and plastics
And also found in paintings in the louvre
what is acrylic? what does acrylic do? can you eat acrylic? what is the definition of acrylic? acrylic in a sentence, poems about acrylic

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Friday, December 20, 2013

What is a Gaberdine?



Gaberdine

A worsted fabric overcoat
Not unlike a wizard's cloak
Was the medieval gaberdine

You'd find it hard to buy in store
A robe the same as Gandalf wore
It's something out of fashion now it seems...
what is a gaberdine, what is gandalf's cloak called? what is the name of medieval clothing? what do wizard's wear? medieval winter wear, what is the definition of gaberdine?

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What is a Fabergé?



Fabergé

Way back in the olden days
Lived one Peter C. Fabergé
A goldsmith who made ornamental things,

Especially he specialized
In golden eggs with gifts inside
To satisfy the likes of queens and kings.

By Kerin Gedge
Copyright 2013









Thursday, December 19, 2013

What is an Eagre?



Eagre

Near where the mighty river meets
The open hungry sea
Your eye might catch an eagre as it flows

A large wave driven by
The breathing currents of the tide
Against the flow upstream the eagre goes...

Now just to be pedantic
so you don't misunderstand it
It's not pronounced a thing like eager either

To say it properly
Then just forget it starts with "e"
And remember the word eagre rhymes with tiger!
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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

What is a Dab?



Dab

A gentle touch or simple stroke
A tiny prod, a little poke
Is all it takes to demonstrate a dab

That is of course unless you mean
The other dab which also means
Something quite different to a simple jab

And that’s a daub of paint, a glob
A little bit, a smear, a blob
Not a lot, but only just a tad!

By Kerin Gedge
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The Meanings of Cabal and Cabala


Cabal/Cabala

A plot or group of plotters who
In secret seek to rule
Bent on influence that can't be quelled
A faction set to dominate,
Who in secret manipulate
Is a covert group called a cabal...

Another word Cabala
Is the mother of the other
And is itself concerned with secrecy
Being an obscure view
Of the Scriptures in Hebrew
And revealing mystical philosophy
what is a babushka? what is the definition of Babushka? what does Babushka mean?

Copyright 2013



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Click HERE to search The Vocabuverse by Letter

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

What is a Babushka?



Babushka

The word babushka sounds absurd
It's clearly not an English word
That's because it hails from Russia

It is a peasant girl's fashion
A headscarf tied beneath the chin
Or a woman with the air of a grandmother!
what is a babushka? what is the definition of Babushka? what does Babushka mean?


Hear me recite it here!

What is an Abacus?



Abacus


If you are investigating
How to do your calculating
Without using your fingers or your toes,
Then the Abacus will do
The arithmetic for you
By organizing beads on rods in rows.

The word originated as
Has been so speculated
From "abax", spoken by the Ancient Greeks.
A table for the purpose
To do math on its surface,
Used exclusively by ancient geeks.

By Kerin Gedge
Copyright 2013






Monday, December 16, 2013

What is Aachen?



Aachen

Unless I am mistaken
There is a place called Aachen
A city found in Western Germany,

A place where they crowned kings
And among other things
Charlemagne was born allegedly!

By Kerin Gedge
Copyright 2013








Click HERE to search The Vocabuverse by Letter

What is an Acrostic?


Acrostic

Allow me please to demonstrate
Clarify and illustrate
Rightly this acrostic mystery
On the left of this you’ll find
Something that should blow your mind
Truly typifying and hopefully
Insinuating what it’s meant to be,
Concealed so to show you what it means…what is an acrostic? a poem about acrostics, an example of an acrostic, an acrostic poem, the best acrostic poem ever written

By Kerin Gedge
Copyright 2013




Saturday, December 14, 2013

The Definition of Earnest



Earnest

It would pay to learn this
That a person who is earnest
Has a serious and somber mental state
They’ll speak with intense gravity
Implore with grim sobriety
The import of the thing that is at stake

However I should point out that
If you have a lot of cats
Or say a boat that’s full of chimpanzees
You can say, “Gee look at that
Earnest heap of hungry cats”
Or, “Goodness that’s an earnest lot of monkeys!”

Of course it might just happen that
Someone not so fond of cats
Who however has a thing for apes
Might earnestly remind you that
It is an actual point of fact
That monkeys are quite different from apes!

And don’t suppose I have digressed
There’s one more point her to impress
In earnest one more thing I can exposit
And that thing that's left to see
An “earnest” is a guarantee
Exactly like when making a deposit

So when I bought that boat of Apes
And all those cats within their crates
A down payment was made to clinch the deal
I laid down “earnest money” that
Secured for me my chimps and cats
Proving my intent for them was real.



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By Kerin Gedge
Copyright 2013


Click HERE to search The Vocabuverse by Letter