Dear all,

All passages below are from “Crazy English” – by Richard Lederer, POCKET BOOKS. (I tried to find an Internet link, but failed. So please pardon me for the length of the text, which I believe would be very informative).

“HETERONYMS – words with same spelling as other words but with different pronunciations and meanings.

Listen, readers, toward me bow.
Be friendly; do not draw the bow.
Please don’t try to start a row.
Sit peacefully, all in a row.
Don’t squeal like a big, fat sow.
Do not the seeds of discord sow.

Membership in the exclusive club of heteronyms is strict, and tandems such as resume and résumé  and pate and pâté are not admitted because the accent constitutes a change in spelling. Pseudo-heteronymic pairs like insult (noun) and insult (verb), …, read (present-tense verb) and read (past-tense verb), and primer (beginner’s book) and primer (base coat of paint) are fairly common in English language, but they are not true heteronyms because their etymologies are so closely related. True heteronymic pairs that are not closely related in word formation are among the rarest occurrences.”

Richard gives these sentences:

After the slaver had sold his slaves, he could slaver over the money he made.
The unionized stockroom workers stacked bottles of ionized and unionized solutions.
The storm began to buffet the outdoor buffet.
The steam-driven tower pulled the disabled boat to the lighthouse tower.
The sewer threw her sewing into the sewer.
She is now resorting to resorting the mail.
He became resigned to the fact that he had resigned an unfair contract.

And he shares with us this poem:

Please go through the entrance of this little poem.
I guarantee it will entrance you.
The content will certainly make you content.
And the knowledge gained sure will enhance you. 

A boy moped around when his parents refused.
For him a new moped to buy.
The incense he burned did incense him to go.
On a tear with a tear in his eye. 

He ragged on his parents, felt they ran him ragged.
He just deserts they never gave.
He imagined them out on some deserts so dry.
Where for water they’d search and they’d rave.

At present he just won’t present or converse
On the converse of each high-flown theory
Or circles and axes in math class; he has
Many axes to grind, isn’t cheery

He tries to play basketball, but often skied out,
So when the snows came, he just skied.
But he then broke a leg putting on his ski boots,
And his putting in golf was in need. 

He once held the lead in a cross-country race,
‘Til his legs started feeling like lead.
And when the pain peaked, he looked kind of peaked.
His liver felt liver, then dead. 

A number of times he felt number, all wound
Up, like one with a wound, not a wand.
His new TV console just couldn’t console
Or slough off a slough of despond.

The rugged boy paced ‘round his shaggy rugged room,
And he spent the whole evening till dawn
Evening out the cross-winds of his hate.
Now my anecdote winds on and on.

 He thought: “Does the prancing of so many does
Explain why down dove the white dove,
Or why a p ussy cat has a p ussy old sore
And bass sing in bass notes of their loves?” 

Do they always sing, “Do re mi” and stare, apage,
At eros, apage, each minute?
Their love’s not minute; there’s an overage of love.
Even overage fish are quite in it. 

These bass fish have never been in short supply
As they supply spawn without waiting.
With their love fluids bubbling, abundant, secretive,
There’s many a secretive mating.

Hope you would enjoy,
Hoa Thai