Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Sound and Sense, 2-27


Time for more instances of the homophone: a word pronounced the same as another but differing in meaning, whether spelled the same way or not, as heir and air.

1. gnu (noun): wildebeest
2. knew (verb): past tense of know—to perceive directly; to have understanding of, etc.
3. new (adj.): not old; recently born, built, or created
4. nu: the 13th letter of the Greek alphabet (like our letter N)

There were so many things he knew
The alphabet, the color blue,
The quickest route to Timbuktu.

He always loved the Ancient Greeks—
Like other sorts of language geeks.
He learned their alphabet (took weeks).

His favorite was the letter nu
Which thrilled our hero, through and through.
He named his dog for it (cat, too).

But on a trip abroadwhere he
In Africa had wished to see
The animals all running free—

Instead he learned things very new
And this, I swear, is sadly true:
He fell, so hard, for some young gnu.

No, not in love (no, that is gross!)—
He tripped before the gnu, morose,
And quickly bid us “Adios!”

That new gnu knew just what to do
When weird guys seem to lack a clue:
He trampled himand all was through.

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