Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion / Other Media

Subverted Rhymes in other media.

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Advertising

• A commercial for The WB featuring Michigan J. Frog features this twice:
  Your love life is in a rut
  you're sitting there on your... uh hey nice sofa
  • And:
    I'm wanted by every lass
    trust me it's a pain in the..
    as for the WB[...]

Anime and Manga

• A famous Tokyo Mew Mew fanart piece◊ released just after the Macekre of the English dub does the "cut off" version:
  Ichigo: Mew Mew Power, I think I'll pass, your Mew Mew Power can kiss my a—
  Minto: Ichigo!
• The Samurai Pizza Cats closing does this:
  Announcer:
  So, hail to thee, O Pizza Cat! Please ring your little bell!
  Although you may be pen and ink, we know you'll fight like —
  The Pizza Cats: (in unison) PIZZA CATS!
• One episode of Pokémon: The Series, "Hassle in the Castle", has Team Rocket doing this with their motto.
  Jessie: To protect us from all that chafing and itching!
  James: It might finally stop all of Jessie's...complaining!
• A commercial for Sailor Moon aired on the Canadian youth programming channel YTV did this:
  "And Sailor Venus
  which rhymes with....I can't say that on TV!"
• The English version of Negima! Magister Negi Magi gives us this gem from the cheerleader trio in volume 1.
  "Rickum, rackum, ruckum, ruckum!
  Throw that ball and really f...fight!"
• From Yu-Gi-Oh! GX:
  "Rah rah ree,
  Kick em in the knee
  Rah rah rut,
  Kick em in the...other knee"

Electronics

• The voice sample for the "Boing" synthesized voice in Mac OS uses a classic example of this:
  Spring has sprung
  Fall has fell
  Winter's here
  And it's colder than usual.

Fan Works

• Latias' Journey: Crawdaunt used The Assumption Song, by Arrogant Worms!
  [..]And then she'd bend over and suck on his
  Candy, so tasty, made of butterscotch,
  And then he'd spread whipped cream all over her
  Cookies that she had left out on the shelf
  If you think this is dirty, you can go fuck yourself!
• Turnabout Storm: Derpy's poem about what she saw on the trial ends with this little verse regarding the prosecutor, Trixie:
  The prosecutor's put downs were quite rich
  But honestly, she was being a big stuck-up...
  ...Meanie.
• "Red Spy," a Team Fortress 2 machinima parody of "Babs Seed".
  First we thought that Spy was so really really sweet,
  Another boy to have and a fine piece of work.
• Happened once to Chloe during episode 8 of Pretty Cure Perfume Preppy. Naturally, she was the Austicles parody.
  Chloe: Whoa! I look like I took one heck of a sunburn. (twirls about) I mean, I'm cherry-red even when I— (covers mouth in shock) Xi. I was about to rhyme.

Jokes

• A Boyfriend-Blocking Dad has three daughters and all of them are going on dates on the same night. He waits on the porch with a shotgun. The first boy comes and says, "Hi, I'm Joe, I'm here for Flo, we're going to see the show, is she ready to go?" The dad lets them go. The second boy comes and says, "Hi, I'm Eddy, I'm here for Betty, we're gonna go eat spaghetti, is she ready?" The dad also lets them go. The third boy comes and says, "Hi, I'm Chuck—" and gets shot.

Professional Wrestling

• One of the theme songs for the 1999 stable known as the West Texas Rednecks (made up of Curt Hennig, Bobby Duncum, Jr., Barry Windham, and Kendall Windham) was "Good Ol' Boys," which contained the following lyric:
  We got an old hound dog and a pick up truck;/We like long legged country girls that know how to love...

Puppet Shows

• The Sesame Street sketch "The King of Eight" has a rare variant where a rhyme is given, but is clearly not what the speaker intended to say.
  King of Eight: I love eight, eight is great, eight is the number I do not—
  Jester: Wait!

Radio

• A The Now Show example from someone other than Mitch; Marcus Brigstocke's Dr Seuss poem about the Copenhagen summit has Gordon Brown taking a stand:
  He suggested the EU should lead from the front
  So the Mail and Telegraph called him something very unpleasant indeed
  • Laura Shavin:
  Twenty years ago, John Gray, a genius,
  Wrote Men Are From Mars Women Are From Venus,
  A book all about the differences between us,
  And he didn't say it was just that men have got...a Y-chromosome...it's Radio 4...not sure we can say penis.
• At least one Abbott and Costello radio episode featured these.
• Played straight and subverted on How Green Was My Cactus when Little Johnny Howler and John Fosters (the Cactus Island counterparts of Liberal party politicians John Howard and John Elliot) appeared as The Two Johnnies, and Fosters demonstrated that he had no understanding of what actually made the gag work:
  Fosters: A brawl broke out outside Parliment House last night, during which Seanator Ros Kelly was punched in the belly...
  Howler: ...the Honorable Barry Jones broke a few bones...
  Fosters: ...and Senator Steele Hall was kicked in the carpark. (pause) Shouldn't that have been 'balls'?
• In one episode of Just a Minute the panellists were given the topic "Why poems should rhyme". After the subject changed hands several times, Rick Wakeman finished it with the following (in the rhythm of a limerick):
  There once was a man from Dundee
  Who was stung on the leg by a wasp.
  When asked if it hurt,
  He said not very much,
  It can do it again, if he likes.

(Variants on this limerick have been attributed to a number of comedians, including WS Gilbert of Gilbert & Sullivan fame. So this one was written 'about a century since'.)

• In an episode of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, Mrs Trellis celebrated the release of ISIHAC: The Official Limerick Collection by sending in a limerick of her own, which she wanted Humph to be the first person to read out loud:
  There was a young woman from Slough^note rhymes with "bough"
  Who was laid in bed with a cough
  She wasn't to know It would last until now
  Let's hope that the poor girl pulls through

Standup Comedy

• German comedian Otto Waalkes loves this trope. Sometimes it falls under this trope, sometimes not. An example would be the kick into the "Eieieiei...eingeweide".^note  Eier=balls, Eingeweide=intestines
• Barry Cryer and Ronnie Golden's act includes Barry singing about how he wants to be a mime, and describing all the things he would mime, until...
  I can paint a picture,
  Just like Jackson Pollock's.
  Till suddenly I realise,
  It's all a complete waste of time.

Tabletop Games

• In the Pathfinder module We Be Goblins, the four preset characters each have a little four-line song to them. The Cleric's is a bit...different.
  Poog say Zarongel is the best
  He help burn things and heal the rest
  Zarongel’s favor makes Poog blessed
  And Poog also stab you with knife if you make fun of how he isn’t good at riding animals.

Toys

• Skelanimals:
  • Ellie's story:
    The natives grabbed their spears, tired of her sass.
    They let her have it and stabbed her in the... tail.
  • Foxy's story:
    But one run too many she found herself trapped.
    Now she’s displayed in a museum with all sorts of... animals.
  • Tristan's story:
    But he forgot there was one more obstacle: A pit.
    And he fell inside, and was covered in... stuff.

Miscellaneous

• From a birthday card, with the last word on the inside:
  Jack wasn't nimble. Jack wasn't quick.
  He sat on your cake and burned his... corduroys.
• Inspired by the classical nursery rhyme:
  Mary had a little lamb
  and she also had a duck,
  she put them on the mantelpiece
  to see if they would fall off
  • A similar rhyme:
  Mary had a little lamb
  She kept it very well
  One day she fed it dynamite
  And blew it all to...pieces
  • And another one
  Mary had a little lamb
  She kept it in a bucket
  And every time the lamb got out
  The sheepdog tried to...put it back in again
  • Also
  Mary had a little skirt,
  A slit went up its side.
  And every time she wore the skirt,
  The boys could see her thigh.
  Mary had another skirt,
  The slit went up its front.
  But she didn't wear that one very often.
• An alliterative example: A number of popular science writers are fond of describing the basic drives of all animals (including humans) as involving the "Four F's: Feeding, Fighting, Fleeing, and Reproducing."
• Roses are red
  Violets are blue
  I'm schizophrenic
  So am I!
  • Roses are red
    Violets are blue
    I've got Multiple Personality Disorder
    And so do we!
    • Roses are red
      Violets are blue
      I've got Dissociative Identity Disorder
      For goodness' sake settle on a bloody name for what we've got already!
  • Roses are red
    Poppies are red
    The grass is all red
    SHIT THE GARDEN'S ON FIRE!
    • Violets aren't blue
      These poems are lazy
      Political correctness
      Is driving us mad.
    • Roses are red
      Violets are blue
      Most poems rhyme
      This one does not
  • Roses are red
    Violets are blue
    Now you know your flowers!
  • Roses are grey
    Violets are grey
    Everything's grey
    Because I'm a dog
  • Roses are red
    Violets are blue
    This poem's too short.
    The end.
  • Roses are red
    Violets are blue
    I have a gun
    Get in the van
• A piece of bathroom graffiti, riffing on a classic piece of bathroom graffiti.
  Here I sit,
  Broken-hearted,
  Came to shit,
  But my girlfriend dumped me.
• Songs that avert naughty words in this manner are called "teasing songs". Yet another example:
  Suzanne was a lady with plenty of class
  Who knocked the boys dead when she wiggled her
  Eyes at the fellows as girls sometimes do
• Here's a limerick:
  There once was a lady from Brunt
  Who stood in water up to her knees
  This poem doesn't rhyme yet
  But wait 'til the tide comes in
• Another one:
  There once was an old man named Chuck
  Who loved a lady from Innsbruck
  "She's too pretty for me,"
  He said morosely,
  "But I wish I could get her to go on a nice walk down the road so we could really get to know each other."
• A non-limerick by Trad (or his brother Anon)
  There was a young lady from Bude
  Who went for a swim in a pond
  A man in a punt
  Stuck his pole in the water
  And said "you can't swim here, it's private".
• Or how about:
  There was a young poet of Mainz
  Whose limericks had no last lines.
  When asked why this was,
  He said "it's because
• In a similar vein:
  There was a young man of Arnoux
  Whose limericks stopped at line two.
• And taking this train of thought until it hits the buffers:
  There was a young man of Verdun,
• Of course, we won't even mention the limerick about Emperor Nero.
• Similar:
  There was a man from Rome
  Who daily composed a poem
  Try as he might
  He just couldn't quite
  Stop from putting too many words in the last line, it sounded awful.
• Subverted rhyme, Heavy Meta, and Sophisticated as Hell:
  The limerick, peculiar to English
  Proved exceedingly hard to extinguish
  When Congress in session
  Decreed its suppression
  People got around it by writing the last line without any rhyme or meter.
• Going with the Florence (second verse)
• The Dragon's Lamentable Love
• A camp song:
  Little Miss-Miss, went out to pi—
  —ck, some flowers;
  She waded in grass, up to her aaa—
  —nklebones;
  She went to the coop, to take a pooo—
  —rr, little chicken out;
  Little Miss-Miss, went out to pick, some flowers.
• Then of course, there was the song about the 'Three Jolly Fishermen', and one verse has them,
  'All going down to Amster—SHHH!
  We must not say that naughty word;
  Must not say that naughty word;
  They all went down to Amster—SHH!!!'
  • Gleefully subverted in the next verse, however:
  'We're gonna say it anyway;
  Gonna say it anyway;
  Amster-Amster—damndamndamn!!
  Amster-Amster—damndamndamn!!
  They all went down to Amster-damn!!!'
• There are many Russian kids' songs (made by kids, not for kids, of course) of this kind, with a varying grade of obscenity. The basic translation of one here:
  There's a statue on a rock,
  And that statue has no—
  EYES!!!
  Don't you dare to spoil my rhymes! (Note: in Russian it rhymes better)
  That one statue has no COCK!
  • Translated another one:
  Lo! The bushes are a-wagging!
  What're they doing in there? —
  SHAGGING!
  Don't you dare to spoil the merries!
  There's a bear searching for berries!
  • There are also many rhymes/songs of the following type; for example:
  I'm a di—
  I'm a dignified young troper,
  I have fu—
  I have fun writing this song.
  I like boo—
  I like booze and Terry Pratchett,
  Yes, my co—
  Yes, my comment skill is huge ;)
  And my ba-
  And my badger ate a pickle.
  Then my nu-
  Then my nutball grandpa died. (What, you thought it would make sense?).
  • There are also so called "Eve Verses". A bit hard to translate (or, rather, compose new ones), but here is an attempt:
  Old Lady Jill was out of luck
  She looked for someone young to...dance
  But they were no type for romance
  They only cared for smoking crack.
• TFWiki.net notes in its entry for Wheelie that "(he's) popular in Japan, but hey that's no crime. It's all because he doesn't... talk poetry.
• A cheer that goes like this:
  Rah Rah Ree!
  Kick 'em in the knee!
  Rah Rah Ras!
  Kick 'em in the other knee!
  • And similarly:
  Cigarette ashes! Cigarette butts!
  We've got your team by the knees!
  • And yet again:
  We like warm beer and cold duck!
  But most of all we like to fffffffight, team, fight! (The drawn-out "fffffff" is essential for maximum amusement of the juvenile minds performing the cheer.)
• That playground classic "Charlie had a Pigeon":
  Charlie had a pigeon,
  A pigeon, a pigeon.
  Charlie had a pigeon,
  A pigeon he had.
  It flew in the morning,
  It flew in the night,
  And when it came home
  It was covered in Sh-
  -Charlie had a pigeon...
• 30 Days hath Septober
  April, June and No-wonder
  All the rest have peanut butter
  Except Grandma
  'Cus she rides a tricycle
• Australian comedy group The Axis of Awesome, in their song "What Would Jesus Do?"
  Can you heal a leper
  Or feed a crowd with fish and bread?
  Can you walk on water?
  Did you rise from the dead?
  Did you give your life up to save humans from bad luck?
  Were you born a virgin birth or did your parents--have sex?
• The Scared Weird Little Guys do a similar thing with their comedic song Christmas Day At least until the very end...
• A Lipton ice tea commercial featuring a singing fish has a great averted rhyme.
  Now you can make a tasty dish
  'Cause tea with citrus goes great with—chicken
• We must not forget:
  Ms. Lucy had a steamboat
  The steamboat had a bell
  Ms. Lucy went to Heaven
  The steamboat went to -
  Hello Operator,
  Please give me number nine
  And if you disconnect me
  I'll chop off your -
  Behind the 'fridgerator
  There was a piece of glass
  Ms. Lucy sat upon it
  And broke her little -
  Ask me no more questions...

And so on.

• Popular jump rope game a while ago;
  There was a man named Tiger Woods.
  He had the cash, he had the goods.
  Tiger Woods had all the luck.
  How many women did he...HAVE SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH?
• An older jump rope rhyme:
  "Lincoln Beachey thought it was a dream
  To go up to heaven in a flying machine.
  The machine broke down, and down he fell,
  Instead of going to heaven he went to—
  Lincoln Beachey thought it was a dream..."
• There is a Dutch poem which for the whole of the poem actually changes words to rhyme with the previous line. It's about a knight going to rescue a damsel from a dragon. The dragon agrees to let her go if the knight composes a verse on them - he doesn't get her: he can't rhyme.
• The Alphabet Song, if the singer pronounces "zee" as "zed".^note Or pronounces "zed" correctly. Also, in the final part of the song, "ABCs" doesn't rhyme with "me" or "zee".
  Q, R, S,
  T, U, V,
  W, X,
  Y, and zed.
• The playground Spanish song "Pican, pican los mosquitos" starts always with the same four verses, and then it's up to the singer. The song is very popular, and has been covered by several artists:
  Pican, pican los mosquitos^note The mosquitos bite and bite
  Pican con gran disimulo^note They bite with great dissimulation.
  Unos pican por delante (o 'en la cara')^note Some of them bite on the front of your body (or 'on your face')
  Y otros pican en el cu... ando...^note And some of them bite on your... And then the following word starts with "Cu" (usually Cuando (when)), as the word in Spanish for "butt".
• The military cadence known as "Swing With Lulu" contains the following verses, among others:
  Lulu's got a boyfriend
  Her boyfriend's got a truck
  Lulu shifts the gears
  Her boyfriend likes to... steer
  Some folks like the fishin'
  Some folks like to hunt
  When I am with Lulu
  I'm always in her... car
• At a certain public university in a certain eastern state, the men's glee club there maintained a deep repertoire of old and creatively dirty songs, one of which — called "High Above a Coopie's Garter" — employed an unusual version of this trope. The eight-line first verse, which the rhyme scheme clearly indicates should build toward the final word "...ass," instead ends with "...hmmmm." The second verse is then eight lines of humming, until the final word — "...ass."
• A rare and unusual CCG instance: In Magic: The Gathering, there are a group of creatures within the Fungus tribe, called Thallids, that collect spore counters and use them to produce Saproling tokens. The game has a wide variety of thallids, including the original Thallid, Psychotrope Thallid, Savage Thallid, Deathspore Thallid, and Pallid... Mycoderm.
• The German variant of the lady of Brunt and the rising tide would be the joke with the angler who is fishing for bass. (No translation required, as it works identically in English.)
• Zigzagged in a German children singing game: In the first pass you may not speak the (usually identical) rhyme, in the second you must, e.g.
  Jetzt fahrn wir übern See, übern See,
  jetzt fahrn wir übern (Beat!)
  Jetzt fahrn wir übern See, übern See,
  jetzt fahrn wir übern See

Violator is out, must give a deposit or whatnot. (Countless variations.)

• On one birthday card, there's a frog saying a rhyme, "Your birthday's a day that can never be missed. Have fun with your friends and get yourself—" then inside, the champagne is going, "Psssst!".

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