Everyone says there’s no rhyme for the word Orange, and we all smile, agree and nod wisely. Nobody seems to have stopped to think “Do I really know all the possible words ending in -ange?”

A little thought, a little research, and all of a sudden there’s a flurry of contenders.

When Wim and I wrote Follies: A National Trust Guide back in 1986, we were delighted to come across Blorenge House in Ashampstead, Berkshire, named for a little-known Welsh range of hills, and the only rhyme we had discovered for Orange. But then there’s a Range of hills. Doesn’t that rhyme?

Of course it depends on how you pronounce the word itself, so let’s look at the pronounciation possibilities. I’m London Welsh, so I say Orrinj. The French town is called, as far as I can transliterate, Aurrhahnzh. I don’t know anyone who says Orarnge or Oraynge. Using my pronounciation, this rhymes for me:

I had a mechanical orange
Instead of just sucking a lozenge
The law I’d infringe
(We used a syringe)
Which put me a bit beyond The fringe.

Sorry about the scansion in the last line, but I wanted to make the metre correct. The possibilities are very far from endless, but how about these:  change; exchange; strange; minge (might be rude, that one); hinge, whinge; range; mange; arrange; grange; interchange — I could go on. You add some.

This post is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.