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Amusing verses that shine a light on mostly medical and grammatical topics

​When proofreading with an eye to perfection, there really is no substitute for good research. While one is always guided by the client's stated preferences regarding style, there is also a baseline understanding that serves as the foundation against which required differences are compared.

I will be offering some home-grown verses here that may be helpful for keeping certain basics in mind while adapting to the guidelines of a specific project, whether under the umbrella of CMOS, AP, APA, MLA, or other guidance.

They are not intended to be comprehensive regarding any particular issue. Rather, the purpose is to draw attention to identifiable aspects that are worth noting and make them memorable.

I think of these verses tongue in cheek as "Grammar Grist." Others that you find here will be more along the lines of "Medical Musings"; some might even qualify as a combination of the two.

It'll be fun. So, let's do it. Share the cheer everywhere.


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(A proofreader's note regarding “envious” and “jealous”)


The Latin origin of “envious” had meanings 

Of “envy” and “jealousy” both.

Now, “envious” and “jealous,” unenviable fellows,

Are often mistaken by rote.


Since “envious” must picture one's “feeling of envy,”

Consider what “envy” implies:

Advantages held by another are coveted

Midst some displeasure and sighs.


This “wanting of something possessed by another”

Is found within “jealousy,” too.

A covetousness may reflect in them both,

But one's jealousy brings more to rue.


Except when it has this same meaning as “envious,”

Our “jealous” seems prompted by fear.

Hostility, rivalry usually are promised,

Dislike, then, an element near.


Unlike its friend “envious,” it has other senses:

“Not bearing with unfaithfulness

Or rivalry, likewise”; “suspecting such quickly”;

“Alert to guard thing owned and blest.”


“Since jealous is broader in meaning than envious,

The latter may envy its clone.

Most people who're envious of traits in another

Are jealous with love of their own.”