Thursday, November 05, 2009

Epigram

EPIGRAM, n. A short, sharp saying in prose or verse, frequently characterize by acidity or acerbity and sometimes by wisdom. Following are some of the more notable epigrams of the learned and ingenious Dr. Jamrach Holobom:
We know better the needs of ourselves than of others. To serve oneself is economy of administration.

In each human heart are a tiger, a pig, an ass and a nightingale. Diversity of character is due to their unequal activity.

There are three sexes; males, females and girls.

Beauty in women and distinction in men are alike in this: they seem to the unthinking a kind of credibility.

Women in love are less ashamed than men. They have less to be ashamed of.

While your friend holds you affectionately by both your hands you are safe, for you can watch both his.
2009 Update: Refined babble.
Those who seek shall surely find what they who lie unsought express in rhyme.
-Anonymous

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL, WTG, ROFLMAO refined babble no? I'm never first with comments WOOT!

TLP said...

Oscar Wilde does it best.

“To get back my youth I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable.” –The Picture of Dorian Gray

Nessa said...

TLP: I love Oscar.

Doug: The good Dr. not so much.

Dona Nobis Pacem & Thursday Thirteen

Jim said...

Epigram: Little or small message, yes. Wikipedia has an interesting blurb, certainly not short in length.

My favorite epi is Ep(i)cot, [EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow)] in Florida.

I like to hold both of my friend's (her) hands in my one. Then the fun starts with the other.
..
Sorry you had to put up with the Ugg Boots Spam stuff.
I've deleted that annoyance from my comments.
..

O. Wilde said...

I always like to know everything about my new friends, and nothing about my old ones.

quilly said...

EPI- prefix meaning “upon,” “on,” “over,” “near,” “at,” “before,” “after”

-GRAM, a combining form occurring in loanwords from Greek, where it meant “something written"

EPIGRAM n. a thought written upon, near, before or after thought. (Sort of like this definition)

see also: The Dictionary According to Quilly

sauerkraut said...

I do real well with acerbity but not so well with prose.

(psst... a man in love is ashamed of what?)

Tom & Icy said...

Shorter the skirt
Longer the concentration

the amoeba said...

If a telegram is a message delivered by a telegraph, and a pictogram is a message delivered by an illustration, then is an epigram a message delivered by a missionary?

scinfers: what we do, and where certain people wish to send us for doing it.

k. riggs gardner said...
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Cooper said...

This was fun, there are fewer epigrams these days ti seems.

O. Wilde said...

Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.

k. riggs gardner said...
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O. Wilde said...

One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation.

k. riggs gardner said...
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k. riggs gardner said...
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Anonymous said...

there is a street
in lead so dak
steep as hell
at the top was
access to mine
shaft a (homestake)
had to back up
(reverse)
once going to work
studded/sawdust tires
smoked two cigs
before arrriving
at top

another day in paradise

A. Powers, Int'l Man of Mystery said...

It's a hard knock life for us
It's a hard knock (yea) life for us
Steada treated we get tricked
Steada Free says we get kicked
Its a hard knock life

I dont know how to be no crib on MTV.
God only knows. Got my Mini-me in the GP see how it goes.

Evil's all that I see... you ask me my name? D to the Rizzo, E to the Vizzo, I to the Lizzo, I'm a crazy (its a hard knock
life) mother (beep) y'all knew that.

Dr. Evil said...

I'm sorry Austin, but you were not in that scene. Only me and Mini-me. And a bunch of extras pretending to be gangsta-priznas.

Doug The Una said...

Thom, I think internet abbreviations and tetragrams are more like ground babble.

TLP, we can see what a prolific epigrammatist Wilde was below.

Nessa, just consider the good doctor a Bunbury.

Jim, unless that was a self-spamming, nothing to apologize for.

Very well, Oscar. Tell me no secrets, and I'll no gossip.

Quilly, that will be some dictionary. I bet you can complete it in a week.

Sauerkraut, speaking for the good doctor, I think the object of his affection.

That's one, Icy.

AN episcopus pun, Amoeba? Courageous!

Thanks, Karen. I hope yours was free from gunpowder and treason.

Cooper, I think we still have them, they're just 300 words long.

That's a good one, too, Oscar. Where's Mr. Clemens tonight?

Karen, you can spend all day on the Oscar Wilde Quotations page, can't you?

Now there's one that's dated, Oscar. Today no veil is thinner or lighter in the breeze than a reputation for gravity.

Karen, it's a mercy that Wilde never lived to see the art of Mark Rothko or the morality of Andy Warhol.

Karen, it helps if you fill the tank with algae.

It's always a good job you get to that way, Bear.

AP and Dr. E, I thought that was from Annie.

k. riggs gardner said...

So sorry. I hope you weren't too awfully embarrassed by a proliferation of comments. I'll try to contain myself in the future.