“Kate Middleton”–an 11th Clerihew by Paul Burgess

“Kate Middleton”
Irrelevant Miss Duchess Kate
Arrived a couple cent’ries late.
Her only duty, she’d confess,
Is occupying England’s press.

“Elizabeth II”–a 10th Clerihew by Paul Burgess

“Elizabeth II”

British Bessie number two–

What does her Royal Highness do?

Despite the glory that she hogs,

She mostly plays with Corgi dogs.

Devil’s Derivations (or Etymologies from Hell) [Day 2]

“Foreign”
Two words still in use combined to form this originally xenophobic term. Like the Ancient Greeks, who considered all non-Greeks “barbarians,” the Early Modern Brits thought of all outsiders as enemies and referred to other kingdoms as places where the “foe reigns”. [Pronunciation of the first syllable has changed gradually from “foe” to “for”].

The earliest recorded use of the term appears in Gilliam Tremblestaff’s tragedy Spamlet:
“As long as Philip wears the crown in Spain,
That land I’ll loathe and always call ‘foe-reign'”.

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