Any English majors out there? (I need help with a rhyme.)

[Bicoastal]

Now's your chance to prove how smart you are (or once were)!

I'm working on a song lyric here (it's a musical) and I need to know how to pronounce the word verbosity.

Does it rhyme with the word "animosity?" Or is it VerBOsity, like verbose with a suffix added?

Give me yer most educated guess...

[Starbucks Anarchist]

1. Hmm...

Verbose is pronounced with a long "O," but "verBOWsity" doesn't sound right to me.

[yardwork]

2. Link to an audio pronunciation of "verbosity"

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?verbos02.wav=verbosity

[KitchenWitch]

3. it is ver BOSS ity

[TexasBushwhacker]

8. Correct!

You can do a search at OneLook:

http://www.onelook.com/?w=*osity&ls=a

BTW, don't forget you can use assonance, where syllabals sound similar, but don't truly rhyme, like in Robert Palmer's "Simply Irresistible":

How can it be permissible
She compromise my principle, yeah yeah
That kind of love is mythical
She's anything but typical

She's a craze you'd endorse, she's a powerful force
You're obliged to conform when there's no other course
She used to look good to me, but now I find her

Simply irresistible
Simply irresistible

Her loving is so powerful, huh
It's simply unavoidable
The trend is irreversible
The woman is invincible

She's a natural law, and she leaves me in awe
She deserves the applause, I surrender because
She used to look good to me, but now I find her

Simply irresistible
Simply irresistible

Simply irresistible She's so fine, there's no tellin' where the money went
Simply irresistible She's all mine, there's no other way to go

She's unavoidable, I'm backed against the wall
She gives me feelings like I never felt before
I'm breaking promises, she's breaking every law
She used to look good to me, but now I find her

Simply irresistible
She's so fine, there's no tellin' where the money went
Simply irresistible She's all mine, there's no other way to
go

Her methods are inscrutable
The proof is irrefutable, Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
She's so completely kissable, huh
Our lives are indivisible

She's a craze you'd endorse, she's a powerful force
You're obliged to conform when there's no other course
She used to look good to me, but now I find her

Simply irresistible
Simply irresistible

She's so fine, there's no tellin' where the money went
Simply irresistible She's all mine, there's no other way to go
She's so fine, there's no tellin' where the money went
Simply irresistible She's all mine, there's no other way to go

Simply irresistible

[Bicoastal]

14. Half-rhyming is fer squares.

Everyone cheats occasionally, but we try to avoid it on the stage.

[TexasBushwhacker]

16. Fair enough ...

but it's done enough that they have a word for it that rhymes (sorta) with "ass and ants".

[Dr. Strange]

4. It also rhymes with atrocity...

see if you can work that into your poem!

[TexasBushwhacker]

17. Velocity N/T

[BurtWorm]

5. Do you have a poetic license?

In which case you can pronounce it however you'd like.

[Bicoastal]

10. Not anymore...

I split an inifinitive, and it was immediately revoked.

[unpossibles]

12. mine was taken away for not eating some free food at an art show

who knew?

[ashling]

6. I was a history major, but

take a look at this:
http://www.rhymer.com/RhymingDictionary/verbosity.html

[WCGreen]

7. If you are writting a song, and the word doesn't really fit...

Make it fit by pronouncing it the way to make it fit...

Especially if it is important to the flow of the song...

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

9. Eye Rhyme

You rhyming toolkit doesn't need to be (and shouldn't be) limited to auditory rhymes only. Eye rhyme is the use of words that appear to rhyme because of the spelling, but are pronounced differently.

daughter : laughter
through : trough
love : prove

And just because you're writing a song doesn't mean you can use it.

[Bicoastal]

11. What?! That's ridiculous!

I'm not going to rhyme dough with through and cow with throw. Maybe Shakespeare could get away with that, but this is the 20th century, and they'd just laugh at me. Show me one recent example where that worked in a song!

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

13. Don't feel up to Googling...

And I'm not sure what you mean by "worked" in a song. Was it popular? I don't know -- let's check the Jonas Brothers new CD for popular lyrics. I think you can find plenty of examples if you look around.

[BurtWorm]

20. Someone left the cake out in the rain...I'll never have that recipe again.

Of course Richard Harris made that sound like a rhyme. But Donna Summer made it all eye rhyme.

[BurtWorm]

19. Near rhyme is my favorite fudge (besides chocolate, of course).

No rhyme works for me too in a lot of cases. David Byrne is good at no rhyme.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

25. No Rhyme, Slant Rhyme, Eye Rhyme...

For me, anything with obvious end rhyming feels like a Hallmark Card.

[Pierre.Suave]

15. verBOSE

bose...

[pink-o]

18. Curiosity rhymes with verbosity

...but I'd think twice about using words like that in a song. I once rhymed "mimosa" with "anorexia nervosa" in a far-too precious lyric when I was in my 20s. It usually ends up sounding pompous and pretentious.

Unless you're Elvis Costello. And even he cringes over some of his stuff now.

Also, who says there's nothing that rhymes with "orange" What about "door hinge"? But would you ever use it? Rhyming isn't everything, is what I'm sayin. Go with what sounds pleasing and can be sung well.

[Bicoastal]

21. Unfortunately, this is musical theater I'm working on.

You gotta rhyme and you gotta be clever too. Annoying at first, but you get used to it...

Here's the song, in rough draft form:

THE NICE GUY

He’s a nice guy
He’s decent and upstanding
That’s my first and last impression
And there’s no room for debate

He’s just a nice guy
A scholar and a gentleman
And while he isn’t perfect
He’s still far from second rate

What’s the use of criticizing
Finding faults and analyzing
Every tiny little flaw that only microscopes could see?
‘Cause he’s a nice guy
My friend is mad about him
Says she couldn’t live without him
And what’s good enough for Cynthia
Is good enough for me

Now I won’t pretend that Robby
Doesn’t have his share of quirks
Sure, his folks are rather snobby
And his buddies seem like jerks
Still, it’s wrong to judge a person by the company he keeps
Never mind that they’re a bunch of blue-blood creeps…

And he’s barely condescending
When engaged in repartee
On the subjects never-ending
He knows more about than me
And he talks too much and spends too much and wears designer shades
With a smile that nearly blinds me
As he says “Hey, that reminds me…
Did I mention how I skipped the first two grades?”

But behind all his pomposity
His arrogant verbosity
His knack for talking down to me
As if I’m just a tyke
Is an awful little bit of good
A guy who’s just misunderstood
A friend who in the end I’m sure
I’ll learn to grow to like.

Though he’s not the least bit witty
And his attitude is shitty
And he comes from New York City
I still think he’s really quite a pretty

Nice guy
And while he’s mostly harmless
There are aspects of his character
That seem a bit askew,

(He’s still a sort of)
Nice guy
And not without rough edges
While we all have imperfections
He has more than just a few.

What’s the use of criticizing
Finding faults and analyzing
All his rather large and glaring flaws
That anyone can see--
(But mostly he’s a)
Nice guy
She says that she’ll be wed to him
Devote a space in bed to him
'Cause somehow he appeals to her
And in the end I must concur
What’s good enough for Cynthia
Is good enough for me.
Good enough for me.
Good enough for me!

[tigereye]

23. nice!

makes me think of Company for some reason...


i love the way theater folks parse their rhymes and syllables - what is that 8 beat rhyme called? Seems to be pretty common in musicals.


"Bewitched bothered and bewildered... "

[Fire Walk With Me]

22. Verbosity: Animosity, atrocity, philosophy, velocity, reciprocity, carrottopocity.

[MrsMatt]

Apostasy n/t

[MrsMatt]

24. Apostasy n/t

[BlueIris]

26. Ochlochracy. Aristocracy. Paucity?

Don't mind me, just having a stupid day.