ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Nibbling at Nocturnal

© Stephen Whiteside 22.10.10

What is the ‘noc’ in nocturnal?
Does it stand for the ‘noc’ on the door
That comes in the night
Bringing terrible fright
In those communist states we abhor?

Those regimes whose logic runs backwards;
‘Nocturnal’ becomes ‘lanrutcon’.
Yes, I hear your yelling.
That’s nothing but spelling,
Not logic - I’m having you on.

Perhaps that’s the ‘con’ in ‘lanrutcon’.
Yes, reason is all up the pole
In those regimes so tight
Where there only is night,
An endless, sad night of the soul.

Yeah I wonder why 'palindrome' isn't spelt the same way backwards?

Backwards is good, but sdrawkcab is better!

g'day Stephen,

Love this poem.... So silly but so logical.

I used to know two cousins who were able to turn words around and actually speak like this. However I think they used a formula something like; first break the word into its syllables the turn each one and speak it.

eg" they called me Eard/noz and my best friend Ni/bor. Sadly Robin died of cancer at aged 18. Just 12 months after she was my bridesmaid.

They were so practiced in it that they could speak at an almost normal rate of speech. Sometimes when they struck an unfamiliar word they would pause but mostly they had no faltering.

You might have invented a whole new word there Stephen, lanrutcon, actually you seem to be well on the way to a whole new language. Please stop, I have enough trouble with the one we have.

Nah, don't stop, it's very funny (and clever).

My Mum and my Aunt had a secret language they shared when they didn't want me to know what they were saying. I never really worked it out, but they sort of moved the vowel sounds around. It sounded like they were adding 'ay' to the ends of words a lot.

Leonie wrote: It sounded like they were adding 'ay' to the ends of words a lot.

That's no secret, language Leonie . . . it's called Queenslandic.
Funny way to speak, ay

Ah ha, so that's where it came from.

.nitaL gip dlo doog eht neeb evah dlouc ti ,esruoc fO.

.saw ti tahw yltcaxe s'taht ,nettogrof d'I !!nehpetS ti s'tahT

Still never got the hang of it myself. (Gee this gnipyt sdrawkcab thing is hard to do.)

I found a pig latin to English translation dictionary.

So here is my backwards sentence again, the right way around but in pig latin. Still as clear as mud to me.

At'sthay itway Ephenstay!! I'dway orgottenfay, at'sthay exactlyway atwhay itway asway.