(Anonymous in Another Almanac of Words at Play by Willard R. Espy)
I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough;
Others may stumble, but not you,
On hiccough, thorough, laugh, and through.
I write in case you wish perhaps
To learn of less familiar traps:
Beware of heard, a dreadful word,
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead: it's said like bed, not bead;
For goodness' sake, don't call it" deed!"
Watch out for meat and great and threat,
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt).
A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, or broth in brother.
And here is not a match for there,
Nor dear for bear, or fear for pear.
There's dose and rose, there's also lose,
(Just look them up), and goose and choose.
And cork and work, and card and ward,
And font and front, and word and sword;
And do and go and thwart and cart----
Come, come, I've barely made a start!
A dreadful language? Why, man alive,
Most master it before they're five!
JUMP OR JIGGLE
Credit: Evelyn Beyer in The Game of Words
by Willard R. Espy
Frogs jump
Caterpillars hump
Worms wiggle
Bugs jiggle
Rabbits hop
Horses clop
Snakes slide
Seagulls glide
Mice creep
Deer leap
Puppies bounce
Kittens pounce
Lions stalk
But......................
I walk!
