Like a Tough Plough, Eye Rhymes Don’t Go Well

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.

I’m Martha Barnette.

And I’m Grant Barrett.

And walking in the door, wearing a deerstalker and carrying a meerschaun pipe, it’s our quiz guide, John Chanesky.

Hi, John.

Hi.

Do you have a place I can put my magnifying glass down? That’s what I need first.

Right next to the violin and the slippers with the shite tobacco.

That’s good.

Okay, good.

Thank you.

Okay, good.

We’re all set to go then.

You know, guys, I know a little something about poetry. And one thing I learned early on is that many great poems do not rhyme.

And this is great news for poets because there are a huge number of words that don’t rhyme.

Now, there’s a problem when you have words that look like they rhyme. These are called I rhymes.

Are you familiar with I rhymes? We’re going to write some simple two-line poems, and we’re going to make sure they don’t rhyme.

The words we’ll finish each line with might look like they rhyme, but they won’t.

For example, when I play peekaboo with my blank, I so enjoy the sound of her blank.

Now we’ll finish those lines with…

Laughter and daughter.

Yes, when I play peekaboo with my daughter, I enjoy the sound of her laughter.

Good. Maybe not much of a poem, but it doesn’t rhyme.

And it’s awfully sweet.

Okay, I’ll give you the two lines. You tell me what I rhymes would complete them.

All right. I rhymes. They look like they rhyme, but they don’t. Got it.

Right. Like ballet and wallet.

Gotcha.

There you go. Got it? Good.

I was told of a guy who wore bees as a blank. It’s the silliest thing that I ever have blank.

I just made a dumb rhyme in my head, but it’s not right.

Who wore bees as a blank.

Beard?

It’s the silliest thing.

Yes?

Bees as a beard.

It’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard.

That I ever did hear.

Ever heard, yes.

Beard and heard.

Beard and hear.

Sir, our clubhouse is respected. These halls are blank.

Running around in a clown suit is simply not blank.

Hollowed and allowed.

Oh, good.

These halls are hallowed.

Running around in a clown suit is simply not allowed or allowed.

I’m soundproofing my walls. I’ve lined them with blank.

My podcast sounds great, but it was a lot of blank.

Cork and work.

Yes, I’ve lined them with cork.

It sounds great, but it was a lot of work.

I’ve lined them with cork.

Cork.

Kirk.

We were hiking the woods. I heard my wife blank.

I ran to her side. She’d been stung by a blank.

A gasp and a wasp.

A gasp and a wasp, yes.

Gasp and wasp or wasp.

Finally, in England, in the House of Blank, the peers are all fans of a way with blank.

The House of Lords are fans of A Way with Words.

That’s right.

The House of Lords are fans of Away With Wards.

Away With Wards.

That’s us.

Well, the game was afoot.

If you’d like to join us, do some games with us, 877-929-9673.

Or email words@waywordradio.org.