BS: Higgledy Piggledy

Subject: Higgledy Piggledy
From: CarolC
Date: 15 Oct 01 - 12:21 AM

Room with a View

Higgledy-piggledy
Emily Dickinson
Looked out her front window
Struggling for breath,

Suffering slightly from
Agoraphobia:
"Think I'll just stay in and
Write about Death."

Pro Quo

Higgledy-piggledy
Sergei M. Eisenstein
Needed State financing:
Film is not free.

"Only," said Stalin, "if
Revisionistically
Ivan the Terrible
Acts just like me."

--Leon Stokesbury

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: CarolC
Date: 15 Oct 01 - 01:03 AM

Higgledy Piggledy
I enjoy doggerel
Better than lit'rature
Goodness know why.

Haven't much patience for
Long winded poetry
Either, but that's ok
I'll still get by.

--me

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: CarolC
Date: 15 Oct 01 - 03:26 AM

Cool. I found some instructions...

Higgledy Piggledy
First name and last name here,
Then something clever on
What he/she did.

Stanza two uses a
Hexasyllabicword;
Finish it up with a
Topper or lid.

--Jed Hartman

Higgledy Piggledy

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: CarolC
Date: 15 Oct 01 - 03:59 AM

And for the potty minded...

Intestinal Fauna

Higgledy-Piggledy
E. histolytica,
Nasty amoeba in
Stool sample smear,

Acts as a parasite --
Sesquipedalian
Agent of suffering --
Causing "dire rear".

Alimentary, Watson

Higgledy-Piggledy
Taenia solium,
Tapeworm that lives within
Pigs and man, too,

Dies from a remedy
Pharmacological:
Male fern's the Rx for
What's eating you!

Enteric Water Loo

Higgledy-Piggledy
Vibrio cholerae,
Spread through excreta in
Water supplies,

Roils the intestine with
Pathogenicity;
Practice good hygiene, or
Cork it, you guys!

Friend or Foe

Higgledy-Piggledy
Strychnos nux-vomica,
Friend of Lucrezia
Borgia and kin,

Poison of preference
Machiavellian,
Swiftly will rid one of
Vermin ... and men.

Parasites, pathogens, and poisons

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: kendall
Date: 15 Oct 01 - 08:55 AM

Higgledy Piggledy Benjimin Harrison
Served between Clevelands,
But, other than that idiocyncracy
Didn't do much.

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: LR Mole
Date: 15 Oct 01 - 10:30 AM

Higgledy-Piggledy
Angry young Zimmerman
Called himself Dylan,
Rechristened himself:

Parlayed the lyrically
Incomprehensible
Into a slot on the
Folk-music shelf.

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: Mrrzy
Date: 15 Oct 01 - 11:08 AM

Higgledy piggledy my black hen / She lays eggs in the Relative When / She doesn't lay eggs in the Positive Now / Because she's unable to postulate how.

got that from somewhere, attribution needed. Not on point, I know.

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: jeffp
Date: 15 Oct 01 - 12:09 PM

Mrrzy - that verse is from The Space Child's Mother Goose, a wonderful book. I've still got my copy. Wonderful parody versions of nursery rhymes, updated for the space age. That higgledy-piggledy verse is translated into several languages. Maybe that's why it stuck in your mind (and mine).

jeffp

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: Jacob B
Date: 15 Oct 01 - 05:07 PM

I like to sing that as a verse of Cluck Old Hen.


Higgledy Piggledy
Marcus Antonius
What do you think of the
African Queen

Gubernatorial
Matters require my
Presence in Egypt. Ya
Know what I mean?

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: CarolC
Date: 07 Nov 01 - 08:35 AM

Higgledy Piggledy
Mudcatter LR Mole
Taught his young students
The wonders of books.

Bibliophilism
(Quoth Mr. Mole)
Is the path to nirvana,
Not money or looks.

YES!!! I did it!!!!!!!!!!!

Put that in your smoke and pipe it, all you linguistic geniuses! A dream of a lifetime has now been realized for this (relatively) slow learner.

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: kendall
Date: 07 Nov 01 - 09:38 AM

ALRIGHT CarolC!

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: GutBucketeer
Date: 07 Nov 01 - 12:49 PM

JeffP

YOU HAVE SPACE CHILD'S MOTHER GOOSE! It was one of my favorites of all time when I was a child. We wore ours out, then it eventually disappeared in the course of several moves.

I especially remember the one about the cat and the dog.

I have looked for it for years as I wander through used book stores. Can you post the author, publisher and copyright date? It would help me as I continue to try to find it.

JAB

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: Micca
Date: 07 Nov 01 - 05:28 PM

Higgeldy piggledy
Young Carol C
Played her accordion
down on the shore

she was quite startled
to hear loud applause
and find a small audience
shouting for more
+

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: CarolC
Date: 07 Nov 01 - 05:55 PM

(did you write that as a fiction, Micca, or did people really hear me playing down by the lake?)

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: Micca
Date: 07 Nov 01 - 07:22 PM

Perhaps you feel this is a better reflection?

higgledy piggledy
carol C playing
accordion music
at the Getaway

In fine Autumn weather
Her playing, so clever
Attracted admirers
from far. Far away

higgledy piggledy
carol C playing
From far far away
Taught by "Skipjack K8"

it's a long way from England
to a campsite in Maryland
but it seems to be working
her playing is great

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: CarolC
Date: 07 Nov 01 - 11:49 PM

Those are all great Micca. And thanks! Now I'm going to have to try to write a higgledy piggledy about you.

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: Rasta
Date: 08 Nov 01 - 12:47 AM

higgledly piggledy she laid hens, -she laid hens for gentlemen-sometimes nine and sometimes ten-down by the ?????my grandfather (pop pop ) used to sing this to me when i was four or five back in the early fifties ,i dont recall the last part of it though ----rastaaaaaa,reno

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: CapriUni
Date: 08 Nov 01 - 08:12 AM

JAB --

I just checked Amazon, and you'll be pleased to know that Space Child's Mother Goose has been reprinted in paperback, and "usually shipsin 24 hours"

(and if you get to Amazon through the "Help support the Mudcat"thingy, 10% of your proceeds will help Maz keep this place running).

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: Mrrzy
Date: 08 Nov 01 - 01:42 PM

And, I remembered later, it's NOT Higgledy Piggledy my black hen, it's PROBABLE-POSSIBLE my black hen! I will look to see if I still have MY copy.

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: Mrrzy
Date: 08 Nov 01 - 01:52 PM

Higgledy Piggledy
Doesn't this poetry
Have some criteria
That are quite tight?

Antepenultimate
(Rather, the line before)
Line must have Polysyl-
-labicals, right?

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: Micca
Date: 08 Nov 01 - 02:49 PM

Higgeldy piggledy
Diva the singer
sings Border Ballads
of blood and of gore

if theres not enough deaths
In the first verses
she throws in a chorus
and massacres more

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: Diva
Date: 08 Nov 01 - 02:57 PM

ROFLMAO........Brill ********BG********

Diva

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: Mrrzy
Date: 08 Nov 01 - 03:00 PM

AH, OK, I've read the directions now. Lessee, will have to think of someone whose name goes DAdadaDAdada...

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: CarolC
Date: 08 Nov 01 - 08:02 PM

The criteria are quite tight, Mrrzy. That's why it feels like such a triumph to me if I can write one that fits the criteria.

I've been wanting to write one since I was in high school when I first heard some, and thought they were brilliant.

Here's my favorite from those days...

Higgledy Piggledy
Vladimir Horowitz
Played the piano
While picking his nose.

Psychoanalysis
Failed to dissuade him
As quick or as well
As the snot on his clothes.

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: Micca
Date: 08 Nov 01 - 08:36 PM

higgledy piggledy Mudacatter Mrrzy found herself caught up in rhythm and rhyme

she sat on the floor and played the tin whistle and a little round Bodhran to beat out the time

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: Micca
Date: 08 Nov 01 - 08:52 PM

Bugger that should have HTML formatting

re do higgledy piggledy
Mudacatter Mrrzy
found herself caught up
in rhythm and rhyme

she sat on the floor
and played the tin whistle
and a little round Bodhran
to beat out the time

and

Higgledy piggledy
Mary the Sinsull
Casting herself
to the hands of the Fates

Driving strange man
to the wilds of New Hampshire
and fixing him up
with flamingo blind dates

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: CarolC
Date: 09 Nov 01 - 03:55 AM

Ok. I learned the Vladimir Horowitz one by ear, and I don't think I ever saw it in its proper written form.

Here's what I'm wondering. Anybody got any guesses on whether it should look like this...

Higgledy Piggledy
Vladimir Horowitz
Played the piano while
Picking his nose.

Psychoanalysis
Failed to dissuade him as
Quick or as well as the
Snot on his clothes.

as opposed to this...

Higgledy Piggledy
Vladimir Horowitz
Played the piano
While picking his nose.

Psychoanalysis
Failed to dissuade him
As quick or as well
As the snot on his clothes.

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: CarolC
Date: 09 Nov 01 - 04:10 AM

So if the first of those two is correct, mine should probably look like this...

Higgledy Piggledy
Mudcatter LR Mole
Taught his young students the
Wonders of books.

Bibliophilism
(Quoth Mr. Mole) is the
Path to nirvana, not
Money or looks.

Or would this be more appropriate...

Higgledy Piggledy
Mudcatter LR Mole
Taught his young students the
Wonders of books.

Bibliophilism,
Quoth Mr. Mole, is the
Path to nirvana, not
Money or looks.

Anybody? Anybody?

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: GUEST,micca at work.
Date: 09 Nov 01 - 04:40 AM

Carol, the essence is in the rhythm, not in the word presentation, in this form, unusually, the layout does not play a part in the rhythm,( try reading both versions aloud into a tape) like for instance in the limerick, where there is a definate constraint of the rhythm in the line length, in Higgledy Piggledy IMHO it is treated as if it were 2 lines of equal length (and rhythm)of aa
the Horowitz one could be written
Higgledy Piggledy, Vladimir Horowitz Played the piano ,While picking his nose

Psychoanalysis,Failed to dissuade him,As quick or as well As the snot on his clothes.

whereas in the Limerick it is 5 lines of aa bb a eg
There was a young girl of Madras
who had the most beautiful ass
Not round and pink
as you probably think
it was grey ,had long ears and ate grass

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 09 Nov 01 - 06:22 AM

The only one I knew - and totaly out of keeping with the rest - was a kids rhyme we used to chant. 1950's Manchester/Salford

Higgledy Piggledy
My son John
Went to bed
with his trousers on

One sock off
and one sock on
Higgledy Piggledy
My son John

Has the meter but not the subtlety - but what do you expect from kids!

Higgledy Piggledy
Dave the Gnome
Added to the thread
but not well

His verses are bad
His poetry stinks
And just like his rhymes
His feet smell....

*BG*

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: John P
Date: 09 Nov 01 - 07:40 AM

Higgledy Piggledy
Carol C
Started this thread
About doggerel verse


Fedora wearing
Accordionista
Usually real sweet
But can be quite terse

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: LR Mole
Date: 09 Nov 01 - 08:39 AM

Higgamous, hoggamus
Congratulations on
Waltz-timing words,
From the Little Rest Mole.

Squeeze out a dirge, though,
And quasi-chromatically,
Next time I post,
I'll be fifty years ole.

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 Nov 01 - 09:05 AM

Higgledy Piggledy
Doctoral Candidates
Do all the research
And get all the blame.

Antediluvean
Habits of faculty
Always ensure that
The first one's THEIR name.

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 Nov 01 - 09:07 AM

Also, wasn't there a "Higgledy Piggledy Pop, the Cat has swallowed the mop! The dog's in a hurry, the cat's in a flurry, Higgledy Piggledy Pop!" somewhere? Maurice Sendak?

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: Stewie
Date: 09 Nov 01 - 09:30 AM

Mrrzy, not Sendak but Samuel Griswold Goodrich, an American born in 1793. Evidently, he was an ardent opponent of nursery rhymes. In 1846, he was incensed about some published research about nursery rhymes which he claimed were nonsense. He said: 'Anyone, even a child, could make one up. Listen!'. And he created the one you quoted. And the Opies wrote: 'And because, in spite of everything, he was a bit of a genius, Goodrich had unwittingly added to the store of nursery rhyme literature'. [Iona and Peter Opie 'Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes' Oxford Uni Press 1995 pp 207-208]

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: CarolC
Date: 09 Nov 01 - 10:06 PM

John P, if by 'terse', you mean what my dictionary gives as its definition #1: smoothly elegant : POLISHED, I deny every word of it ;-)

Happy Birthday, Mole! Fifty is good. Some of the sexiest men in the world are in their fifties.

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: SINSULL
Date: 09 Nov 01 - 10:17 PM

I think I will stick to iambic pentameter.

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: CarolC
Date: 10 Nov 01 - 05:21 AM

Higgledy Piggledy
Micca the troubadour
Sang for the folks at the
Mudcat Cafe

Songs of despair and of
Concubinicity
He went back home 'tho we
Asked him to stay.

The bit that makes these really difficult is the six-syllable word. Does anyone know of a way to do a search for words based on number of syllables?

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: SINSULL
Date: 10 Nov 01 - 12:53 PM

Higgledy Piggledy
Micca tries witchery
Fuschia flamingo falls
For kilted man

Boas, eggs, fluff,and chicks
Rubicundentious
Linn and Curmudgeon find
In the quiche pan.

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: SINSULL
Date: 10 Nov 01 - 12:57 PM

Rewrite:
Higgledy Piggledy Micca the Spell Caster
Fuschia flamingo falls
For kilted man

Boas, eggs, fluff,and chicks
Rubicundentious
Linn and Curmudgeon find
In the quiche pan.

Is it right yet?

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: SINSULL
Date: 10 Nov 01 - 06:27 PM

Stupid HTML!

Higgledy Piggledy
Micca the Spell Caster
Fuschia flamingo falls
For kilted man

Boas, eggs, fluff,and chicks
Rubicundentious
Linn and Curmudgeon find
In the quiche pan.

Subject: RE: BS: Higgledy Piggledy
From: CarolC
Date: 10 Nov 01 - 06:31 PM

Looks good to me, SINSULL, but I'm still a beginner at this. I'm going to go look up rubicundentious now.