From: Simon Tatham <anakin@pobox.com>
To: alex@stinky.com
Subject: double dactyl
Date: Wed, 05 Feb 2003 09:52:08 +0000

Your page at http://www.stinky.com/dactyl/dactyl.html says `If you
find or, God forbid, compose any new double-dactyls, please let me
know'...

I'd never heard of the double dactyl form before I saw your page,
but as soon as I saw it I knew I'd seen one before. It occurs in
Neil Gaiman's book `Stardust', in which a collection of small imps
dance around the hero and sing

  Hankety-pankety
  Boy in a blanket, he's
  Off on a goose-chase to
  Look for a star

  Incontrovertibly
  Journeys through Faërie
  Strip off the blanket to
  See who you are.

(Of course, the diaeresis in `Faërie' separates the diphthong and
causes the word to scan as a full dactyl.)

Cheers,
Simon