lørdag den 4. januar 2014

Sidste skepost (runsibel ske)

"Runcible" is a nonsense word invented by Edward Lear. The word appears (as an adjective) several times in his works, most famously as the "runcible spoon" used by the Owl and the Pussycat.[1] The word "runcible" was apparently one of Lear's favourite inventions, appearing in several of his works in reference to a number of different objects. In his verse self-portrait, The Self-Portrait of the Laureate of Nonsense, it is noted that "he weareth a runcible hat".[2] Other poems include mention of a "runcible cat",[3] a "runcible goose" (in the sense of "silly person"),[4] and a "runcible wall".[4]

Edward Lear's best-known poem, The Owl and the Pussycat, published in 1871, includes the passage:
They dined on mince and slices of quince,
which they ate with a runcible spoon.[1]
Another mention of this piece of cutlery appears in the alphabetical illustrations Twenty-Six Nonsense Rhymes and Pictures. Its entry for D reads
The Dolomphious Duck,
who caught Spotted Frogs for her dinner
with a Runcible Spoon[5]
Lear often illustrated his own poems, and he drew a picture of the "dolomphious duck" holding in its beak a round-bowled spoon containing a frog:


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