<p>THE RHINOCEROS<br /><br /></p>.<p>The rhino is a homely beast,<br />For human eyes he's not a feast.<br />Farewell, farewell, you old rhinoceros,<br />I'll stare at something less prepoceros.<br />If your teacher had to correct that, she'd have marked a thick red line under 'preposceros'! Because we all know that the right spelling for this word that means 'absurd' or 'outlandish' is really 'preposterous'! Bt, hey, this is a limerick! Bad spelling is ALLOWED, even encouraged, especially if you're being funny and clever. Let's look at another masterpiece of mis-spelling. Again, we all forgive Ogden Nash because he's so funny.<br /><br />THE COBRA<br /><br />This creature fills its mouth with venum<br />And walks upon its duodenum<br />He who attempts to tease the cobra,<br />Is soon a sadder he, and sobra..<br /><br />There we go again,; he's spelt 'venom' in a way to visually match 'duodenum'! And 'sobra' is really a brilliant version of 'soberer' (which, incidentally is a word Nash has happily made up to mean, 'more sober')! Now Ogden Nash is world famous and had innumerable books that were filled with his bad spelling, so maybe…maybe, now and then you too could try your hand at a limerick and for once, not worry if your spelling is pucca?<br /><br />Look at Indian animals and names for inspiration. Add in Indian words like masala, chup-chaap, phataaphat and others. They'll only add to the list of fun words at your disposal. <br /><br />Words from Hinglish, Kinglish (Kannada and English!) or even 'Bonglish' (Bengali and English, silly!) are allowed. But just make sure the resulting rhyme is funny. Try your hand on the giraffe first. This fabulous animal offers a lot of poetic possibilities…its height, its colouring, the fact that it's a native of Africa…and so unlike any other creature we've ever seen. Start off by imaging what all those visitors to the Mysore zoo are saying about the animal. <br /><br />Try to remember your first reaction to a giraffe, as a child. That's bound to have been funny, and can be the starting point for your own limerick. Try other Indian creatures like the hornbill. Our very dear elephant, the sleepy buffaloes on our roads…<br /><br />When you're worked on your 4-line limerick (it can be any length you want, actually) and polished it up nicely, write it down neatly…make sure that the poem has a kind of rhythm (it's called a 'metre' in poetry). <br /><br />Then you can set it to a tune…and sing it to your friends. Why, it could become your gang's anthem! And it will inspire you to write more and more limericks…on the funny dog next door; on that disastrous history test; on your fat uncle who slipped on this dhoti while making a grand entry at a wedding reception…anything can inspire a limerick. And the best part is that YOU can invent the spellings!</p>
<p>THE RHINOCEROS<br /><br /></p>.<p>The rhino is a homely beast,<br />For human eyes he's not a feast.<br />Farewell, farewell, you old rhinoceros,<br />I'll stare at something less prepoceros.<br />If your teacher had to correct that, she'd have marked a thick red line under 'preposceros'! Because we all know that the right spelling for this word that means 'absurd' or 'outlandish' is really 'preposterous'! Bt, hey, this is a limerick! Bad spelling is ALLOWED, even encouraged, especially if you're being funny and clever. Let's look at another masterpiece of mis-spelling. Again, we all forgive Ogden Nash because he's so funny.<br /><br />THE COBRA<br /><br />This creature fills its mouth with venum<br />And walks upon its duodenum<br />He who attempts to tease the cobra,<br />Is soon a sadder he, and sobra..<br /><br />There we go again,; he's spelt 'venom' in a way to visually match 'duodenum'! And 'sobra' is really a brilliant version of 'soberer' (which, incidentally is a word Nash has happily made up to mean, 'more sober')! Now Ogden Nash is world famous and had innumerable books that were filled with his bad spelling, so maybe…maybe, now and then you too could try your hand at a limerick and for once, not worry if your spelling is pucca?<br /><br />Look at Indian animals and names for inspiration. Add in Indian words like masala, chup-chaap, phataaphat and others. They'll only add to the list of fun words at your disposal. <br /><br />Words from Hinglish, Kinglish (Kannada and English!) or even 'Bonglish' (Bengali and English, silly!) are allowed. But just make sure the resulting rhyme is funny. Try your hand on the giraffe first. This fabulous animal offers a lot of poetic possibilities…its height, its colouring, the fact that it's a native of Africa…and so unlike any other creature we've ever seen. Start off by imaging what all those visitors to the Mysore zoo are saying about the animal. <br /><br />Try to remember your first reaction to a giraffe, as a child. That's bound to have been funny, and can be the starting point for your own limerick. Try other Indian creatures like the hornbill. Our very dear elephant, the sleepy buffaloes on our roads…<br /><br />When you're worked on your 4-line limerick (it can be any length you want, actually) and polished it up nicely, write it down neatly…make sure that the poem has a kind of rhythm (it's called a 'metre' in poetry). <br /><br />Then you can set it to a tune…and sing it to your friends. Why, it could become your gang's anthem! And it will inspire you to write more and more limericks…on the funny dog next door; on that disastrous history test; on your fat uncle who slipped on this dhoti while making a grand entry at a wedding reception…anything can inspire a limerick. And the best part is that YOU can invent the spellings!</p>
