Retirement is a week filled with Saturdays and Sundays interrupted only occasionally by a holiday.

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Saturday, November 1, 2008

Plural Puzzle Poetry

I hope everyone is enjoying this last weekend before Election Day. I don't know about you but Tuesday can't come soon enough for me. My brain seems to have finally reached maximum overload with all the last minute campaigning and associated materials being sent our way and I just can't seem to think of anything interesting or creative to say so I thought I'd share this little poem a friend sent me the other day. It has absolutely nothing at all to do with politics but it did make me smile and, these days, I think a little humor is what we really need. Here goes...

AN ODE TO ENGLISH PLURALS

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

5 comments:

rosemary said...

really cute and totally non political!

Patti said...

What a lovely break from the political sphere in which we find ourselves.

We have a lot of Halloween candy left too. I bought extra.

Renee Nefe said...

I'm done with the election too...it would be nice if all of it could quit for you after you vote (I voted 2 weeks ago!)...just hit a button on your TV and they stop showing you ads & stories on the news too.

re: Pumpkin, yeah I hate the guts too, but suprisingly this year it wasn't so bad. after we carved I took a spoon to help our guy to get it all in the right place. He was a huge hit with our trick-or-treaters!

the moose buyer said...

just saw your blog and the political stand or Obama. I am sure that bump you heard when you posted it was Aunt Frieda. I am proud of you for taking a stand. After all these months of politics, I still say I should have stayed a Canadian!!!!

Linda said...

I have often wondered many of these same things myself! Our language is a strange one, is it not?

And I'm with you on the "I've had enough" of politics. Let's move on!