Originally Posted by Richard G
fort, exhort, import, export, retort, sort, tort, wart, quart, short, torte, deport, and resort
Yowzer! So "tort/torte" but not "taught"? Whither "taut"?
”Taut” is pronounced identically to “taught” in North American English, but will not rhyme with any word containing an “r.”
In my view, sportsmanship is the responsibility of all of the participants in the sporting activity—players as well as coaches and spectators.
I wouldn't disagree with your view, but that simply isn't the definition of sportsmanship one would find in a dictionary. How is a reader supposed to know what you intend?
I suppose the poem invites the reader to extend his or her understanding of “sportsmanship” to include the values taught by family and coaches pertaining to athletic competition
Speaking of (and this may be a "not knowing a thing about ice hockey" question) but I'd been reading this
The players slap gloves
as the winning team high-fiving each other. I'm now wondering if I've been wrong and this is both teams essentially shaking hands?
You are right that glove slapping is hockey’s version of shaking hands.
If that's the case I think you can get the 'moral' in without shoehorning it. Something along the lines of
The players slap gloves and the victors exult.
To lose, as to win, it can be difficult
to demonstrate sportsmanship, like an adult.
The angry dad can’t help but curse and insult.
Did you mean to suggest that the winners, by exulting in their victory, are also demonstrating poor sportsmanship? Unless they mocked their defeated opponent or otherwise demeaned them, I don’t think I agree.
Are you treating the meter of your second line as
“to LOSE / as to WIN / it can /BE DIF / fi CULT (iamb, anapest, double iamb, iamb)? This might work, but the syntax “To lose . . . it can be. . .” is a bit unnatural.
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