Cooperative limericks at the dinner table last night provoked a friendly debate as whether the word "grovel" ought to be pronounced gruv-el, as per the mother's insistence, or grah-vel, as per the eldest daughter's insistence. Debate was settled by the dictionary, which says both are correct. Likewise for the word "hovel".

Hence, contrary to the firmly stated opinion of Daughter Who Just Won Her School's English Award, the word "shovel" does indeed have at least two rhyming counterparts, thus rendering the phrase "There once was a man with a shovel" a perfectly valid opening line after all. Score one for the Mom Who Should Have Been an English Major.

By the time the debate was settled, it was of little value to the limerick in question anyway, as I had already changed my opening line to "There once was a man with an axe." This was a bit risky, as a couple of my children have a propensity toward violent poetry when given opportunity, and such a line gave obvious opportunity. However, the other tools which came to mind were not easy rhymers. "There once was a man with an edger" and "There once was a man with a pitchfork" really were not going to cut it. Besides, each of them had potential for graphically violent follow-up as well. So "axe" it was, and we did manage to get all the way around the table and complete the limerick without undue grossness. (This is even more amazing considering the fact that we just yesterday became embroiled in a heated dispute with the very organization with the power to levy something which begins with T and conveniently rhymes with "axe"... But that's another post.)

Anyway, you'll notice I was sort of stuck on this theme of outdoor tools, and I really couldn't tell you why that is. Men with shovels and axes make for rather lame openers. Generally our limericks start out along more creative lines. To wit: "There once was a windmill that sang..." "A girl who refused to eat salad..." Or --my personal favorite, from Eldest Son With Strangely Wry Sense of Humor-- "There once was a cow with no udder." (I'm not certain we were ever able to finish that last one, either because we couldn't find proper rhyming words or because we were too busy trying to regain our composure.)

But back to the whole pronounciation debate. After discovering the dual pronounciations for "grovel" and "hovel", I couldn't help but look up one last word. Wouldn't you? I mean, who among us wouldn't love to be able to dig every so often with a shah-vel rather than a shuv-el?

No deal. There is only one correct pronounciation for the word "shovel". I know, I am sad about that too.

But at least we all learned something, which only goes to show that every family ought to do build-your-own-limericks at the dinner table. And that every dining room ought to have a dictionary within easy walking distance.