Fungible
For Penny Fuller's Part F: The A-Z of Unusual Words
My Word: Fungible
Meaning: interchangeable.
My Connection: One of the things I have always loved about the English language, is just how many words can be (correctly) used interchangeably. When I've worked as a content writer, it is especially important if you are writing about a subject that has been written on a hundred times before, so you can avoid Google and other search engines flagging up supposed duplicate content. In poetry and fiction, it's great if you don't want to use the same word again and again.
What I discovered when looking at the list of unusual "F" words was just how many there were related to "nonsense" So, my poem reflects that while paying tribute to the word "fungible". Okay, so it is often used in economics and finance. I decided it could be used for interchangeable words, that have the same value. As writers, we have that power. Look, I love words. I love being tricksy and subversive.
For an extra fun Easter Egg thing, the repeated use of falderal serves an additional clever purpose related to its definition. Falderal means "a nonsensical refrain", often featured in old songs. So, I tried to incorporate that with a silly refrain for my silly song-like poem. Also, see the use of coda. I had a lot of fun with this. Can you tell?
My Poem
so many 'f' words, all nonsense and sound
as this and that, the fungible, flexible
*
is it flapdoodle or more a slight footle
who can tell if it's fiddlededee or fatuous
in the end, it's all fiddle-faddle, falderal
*
get involved in flimflam or maybe flumadiddle
talk a lot of flannel and ridiculous fadoodle
in the end, it's all fiddle-faddle, falderal
*
in the coda, words dance in the air
at its close, they spin and flare
in the end, it's all fiddle-faddle, falderal
*
so many 'f' words for such nonsense
as this and that, the fungible, flexible
interchangeable words guide the flow
fuels creation, ridiculous nonsense
*
in the end, it's falderal, the final fiddle-faddle
*
Thanks for reading!
Author's Notes: This is for Penny Fuller's Fantastic Part F: The A-Z of Unusual Words, which you can find out more about below.
Here are some other things by me:
About the Creator
Paul Stewart
Award-Winning Writer, Poet, Scottish-Italian, Subversive.
The Accidental Poet - Poetry Collection out now!
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Comments (10)
I love how into this you clearly were! Added to the already abundant enjoyability of reading the piece! This really reminded me of the scene in the Cinderalla musical with Whitney Houston where she says, "Fal-de-ral and fiddle-dee-dee Fiddly-faddly-foodle All the dreamers in the world Are... dizzy in the noodle!"
I noticed a lot of nonsense words too! This was fabulous fun!
I absolutely loved every rollicking line!✅😆😉
You're such a flamboyant flamingo, flying flawlessly, with this poem! 🍩🥐
Lots of fun Paul and liked your notes, explanation at the beginning !
very fun... thanks
This made me laugh but also taught me a lot of words, repetition also did the trick. This was lovely and the word fiddlededee, I don’t think I will ever forget it, it’s the word that made me laugh the most 😂 A bit of fun can only be achieved through flapdoodle 👌🏽
Seeing flumadiddle and fadoodle in a poem was worth the read all by itself! This was a lot of Seussian fun, Paul! Loved it!
It's a great falderally, fiddly-faddly piece, my favourite so far! (look at me alliterating without meaning to, what a great language this is!)
Good work and this one was really fun to read with all the 'f's'.