In a message dated 4/17/2011 6:43:54 P.M. , jejunejesuit.geary2@xxxxxxxxx writes in "jibber jabber": Whilom was a word I loved ere I met erstwhile. Erst satisfies an edgy thirst like none other. Gnarl and gnaw are lagniappes to the lumpenproletariat from whom I hail which rhymes with jail, and hard as a nail. This need for crunchy phonemes oft catches me offguard. I can't say what it is, why it is, this need that comes upon me to speak words that wrench. Once upon a time, I thought ineffable said it all -- such a marshmallow word -- now I scrounge for scurfy sounds that one can knock upon like scute, and hear the ring of the real. Mike Geary Indeed. Oddly, 'jabber' and 'jibber jabber' are translations from the older Latin, Gabber -- as in Gabberbochus Hōra aderat briligī. Nunc et Slȳthi̯a Tova Plūrima gȳrābant gymbolitāre vabō; Et Borogōvōrum mimzēbant undique formae, Mōmiferīque omnēs exgrābūre Rathī. Coesper erat: tunc lubricilēs ultrāvia circum Urgēbant gȳrōs gimbiculōsque tophī; Moestenuī vīsae borogōvides īre meātū; Et profugī gemitūs exgrabuēre rathae. “Gabrobocchia” Est brilgum: touī slīmicī In uābō tererōtitant Brōgōuī sunt macresculī Mōmī rastī strūgitant. Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. Note that here we have, clearly, three accentual iambic tetrameters and a cretic dimeter. One should perhaps wonder why two "translators" went for elegiacs and not the freer iambo-trochaic meters. Or not. JLS At the Swimming-Pool Library, reading. ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html