Circus

~ Frank Solanki

It may seem like a benign word
But it isn’t
Everything about this word is wrong
It’s a complete mess of a word

Its pronunciation has nothing to do with its spelling
Take the first C
It makes an S sound
Now take the second C
It makes a K sound
Why would someone do that?
Why would anybody use the same letter
To make two different sounds in the same word?

I strongly believe that this word was created
By the native speakers
To make life difficult for others
And have a derisive laugh along the way
The italian, portuguese and spanish word for it has two Cs too (circo)
And, you guessed it, both sound different
The dutch and latin use the same word as English does
At least the french have the decency
To use only one C in the word (cirque)
While the german word (zirkus)
And the norwegian word (sirkus) contain no C
And is pronounced just the way it is spelt

Is it any wonder that when my life is frenetic
Disorganised, messy, disturbing,
Farcical and comical
With just the right amount of chaos
Suitable for public entertainment
I refer to it as a …

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Published by Frank Solanki

Making the world a better place one poem at a time.

16 thoughts on “Circus”

  4. Hysterical!

    I hate circuses. My parents had to haul me sobbing and screaming out of the first and only literal circus they ever took me to. I was three and I had just learned that people keep tigers captive. Now I hate the word, too. 😉

    Liked by 2 people

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