I really like car games. I came up with a fun one this weekend as Jen and I drove back and forth from a family party. The goal was simply to try and name as many rhyming rules as possible.
Example:
lefty loosey, righty tighty
I thought we’d come up with tons! But we only came up with a handful:
I before E except after C… something about neighbors.
The silverware had a fight! The knife and the spoon were right, the fork left, bereft.*
Quickly it became apparent that we needed a distinction between rhyming rules and rhyming advice. Rules must give some sort of life instruction when presented with a binary situation: a right and wrong way of doing something. For example:
Leaves of three, let them be. Leaves of four? Eat some more!
It’s an easy way to learn to avoid poison ivy but it’s not a rule outright. It’s really just advice.
I am sure that you, good readers, have more in the memory banks. Any contributions?
*Alicia thought to add this word at the end. Awesome!
I before E except after C,
Or when sounding like “A” in Neighbor or Weigh.
There’s the one about the snakes:
If red touches black, you’re okay Jack; if red touches yellow, you’re a dead fellow.
And also the booze rule:
Beer before liquor, never been sicker; liquor before beer, you’re all clear.
And from Chemistry:
Little Jimmy took a drink, but he shall drink no more. For what he thought was H2O was H2SO4.
A shotgun a day keeps the zombies at bay. No wait, that doesn’t seem right. Steer clear of flambé if you wear a toupée? Hrm, no. Oh wait! Don’t waste half your day with half-witted word play. That’s got to be it.