The English language has many words that have no rhyme. Besides the above, other words include ninth, pint, wolf, opus, dangerous, marathon, and discombobulate.
For those who find themselves in a language kerfuffle when pining to rhyme, assonance can sometimes carry the verse.
Bronze, plus some silver and gold,
Won’t be of help if you shiver when cold.
Equestrians may be familiar with the word curple, a corrupted form of the Scottish word crupper which means the hindquarters or rump of a horse. Though this word in fact rhymes with purple, it is largely out of use.
Another slang word, nurple – as in a purple nurple, is a rhyming derivation of the words nipple and purple and, in practice, a very painful prank. We shall see if Webster deigns to bring this twisted combination into the fold of notable language in the future.
So, how important is all this business with childish rhymes? Many of the nursery rhymes we know today go as far back as the Middle Ages and continue to get passed down generation after generation. Though there are many sites detailing the darker side of nursery rhymes, here are a few lighter facts you may not have heard:
- Shakespeare mentions Jack and Jill in Love’s Labour’s Lost and in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
- In the 17th century, a Humpty Dumpty was a drink of brandy boiled with ale.
- The first collection of children’s songs and rhymes in English was Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book, published in 1774. It included Hickory Dickory Dock, London Bridge is Falling Down, and Bah, Bah, a black Sheep.
- Mary Had A Little Lamb was Thomas Edison’s first recording on his phonograph in 1878.
- In 1951, Baa, Baa, Black Sheep was the first song digitally saved and played on a computer.
Interested in more fun facts about common words? Check out words with opposites that will surprise you! At 15 letters, what is the longest word without a repeating letter? Is your name a capitonym?
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