Jump to: Puzzlers & Ponderers / Peakewlyer Prowse / Humorous Poetry / Playful Prose & More

Puzzlers and Ponderers:

Word Puzzlers.  Find the common English words or phrase that best describes these word pictographs.  For example:  d r a w  could mean backward (ward spelled backwards), or  sec   ond  could mean split second.  Author unknown.

Points to Ponder.  A humorous list of some of the world's imponderables.  Author unknown.

More Points to Ponder.  Another humorous list of some of the world's imponderables.

Timely Quotes.  Some off base predictions of the future made by some of the movers and shakers of the day.

Peakewlyer Prowse:

Charivarius's Chaos.  An inspired and funny poem about the quirky English language, written by a Dutch man to help his students improve their English.  Even native speakers will fumble reading this one out loud.  This version came from a Dutch web site claiming to have rerun a 1945 newspaper article containing the poem.

The English Lesson.  A poem similar, but shorter, than Charivarius's work, poking fun at English's peculiarities.  Credited to Richard Krogh.

An Orthographic Lament.  A classic poem on spelling by Charles Follen Adams.  Short and funny.

Forgotten Rules of English.  How 2 Rite Real Goodly - English humor.  List of frequently violated rules of English.  Each rule is itself an example of the broken rule.

Steve Fullenwider's Not So Correct Dictionary.  Inspired, irreverent re-definitions of some everyday words and phrases.  Currently maintained and updated with the original author's permission by yours truly.

Wife Speak to English Dictionary.  Entertaining article about what your wife REALLY means.

The Bad Analogy Contest.  An article from the Washington Post similar to the annual Bulwer-Lytton "It was a Dark and Stormy night" contest, put on by San Jose State University.

Funny Written Excuses. Notes from parents explaining their child's absence from school.  Attributed to Sharon and Nick Ryan.

Poetry, mostly humorous:

The Politically Correct version of Little Red Riding Hood.  The title says it all.  Attributed to K. Hopkins.

Coat Hanger King.  Silly poem by yours truly to celebrate Father's Day in 1997.  Dad has always been pretty clever at pushing the limits of the common coat hanger, and this poem pokes a little fun at that talent.

Playful Prose and More:

The Five Toughest Questions that Women Ask - and Their Answers.  Great article found on the web and attributed to the writers at Sassy Magazine.

The Annotated Thermometer.  A colorful and humorous description of temperature and its effect on people, places, and things.  Original author unknown.  Several variations appear on the web, and it is clear that it has been embellished by many hands.  The original had a strong bias for the cooler climes, topping out at 70º F.  Cupola has added new material to provide some balance.

What if Microsoft Started Making Cars?  An Internet classic, although probably not as widely distributed as some of the other Microsoft bashing jokes.  Mostly the work of an unknown author, with some embellishment from Cupola.

Creative Answering Machine Messages.  Need help coming up with a witty message?  Try some of these.  No known author.

Phone Won't Stop Ringing?  Here's What You Do.  Funny story about a woman who took matters in her own hands after receiving too many wrong numbers.  It lives on offsite in this urban legend debunking at Snopes.

Boss Speak!  Entertaining article explaining the difference between you and your boss.  No known author.

Man Overboard!  Dilbertesque joke about life in corporate America.  No known author.

Oldest Profession.  Joke about lawyers, architects, and computer scientists.  No known author.

More!  Other sites in the same vein that you might enjoy.

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