Style Conversational Week 1359: The Thirl is gone
Remembering the renowned legal scholar -- and 37-time Loser -- (Hugh Thirlway, The Hague), 1937-2019
The legal secretary of the World Court and renowned scholar of international law still made time to write hundreds of limericks and other bits of mildly racy humor, including dozens for The Style Invitational over the years. (European Journal of International Law)

By 
Pat Myers 
November 21, 2019 at 4:15 p.m. EST
I was up late last night, past deadline to finish this week’s Style Invitational, Week 1359, when I got an email. The subject line was “Hugh Thirlway.”

“Dear Madam,

“May I trouble you with an enquiry: One of your contributors to the limerick contest, a good friend of mine, has recently passed away. He is mentioned in your guidelines as being “ace limerician Hugh Thirlway.”

It turned out that my Googling correspondent, Cristina Hoss, was writing an obituary for the Leiden Journal of International Law, and wanted to include one of Hugh’s limericks to show the lighter side of this illustrious legal scholar and professor, who for a number of years held a high post at the International Court of Justice (a.k.a. the World Court), based in The Hague, capital of the Netherlands.

So I went through the Invite archives and sent a few of the dozens of limericks, double dactyls and other inking entries credited to Hugh since his Style Invitational debut in our 2008 Limerixicon contest. And though Cristina said her obit wouldn’t be published until at least January (“the pace of international law is slow”), I asked if she could send some information about him to share with Washington Post readers. So first, a little bio on this extraordinary man (he died Oct. 13 at age 82), and then the lims.

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Hugh Thirlway was born in London in 1937, studied law in Cambridge and worked as a solicitor (attorney) for some time. He then moved to the French city of Nancy, “where he learned French and surpassed all his French fellow students in the law exams. He actually wrote his PhD in French. His knowledge of French and perfect Cambridge English were good preconditions for a career in International law,” since the World Court, the main judicial arm of the United Nations, works in both those languages.

“In 1968 he entered the service of the International Court of Justice as Secretary of the Court became shortly after First Secretary and, in 1987, Principal Legal Secretary. For younger colleagues as myself (he was 40 years my senior), he was someone to look up to, yet approachable and in many ways a very subtle teacher. His legal drafting skills were simply remarkable.”

After his time at the World Court, he became a professor of international law in Geneva and a visiting professor around the world, while continuing to keep his residence in The Hague (I know this, remember, because you have to include your mailing address on your entry form).

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“And as if all this wasn’t enough,” Cristina added, “he was a very talented musician, piano player, composer and director. He regularly organised musical events at his house and outside.”

Mr. Thirlway’s magnum opus was an examination of the half-century history of the World Court, “The Law and Procedure of the International Court of Justice.” I see that you can pick it up from Oxford University Press for $515, if you’re doing some Christmas shopping.

Otherwise, I recommend instead Mr. Thirlway’s minimum opus: these limericks (plus a double dactyl) from various Invite contests. Without fail they’re ingeniously crafted and devilishly clever — and often mildly racy.

Hugh’s Invite debut came with this entry in our 2008 Limerixicon contest, for limericks featuring words beginning with “da-”:

The damselfish lurks in the sea,

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Self-centered as ever could be.

Hunting food in the deeps;

All it finds there it keeps:

It seems pretty dam selfish to me.

And the hits just kept on comin':

When invited to dine with Count Dracula,

I expected a menu spectacula;

But d'you know what I got?

Merely blutwurst, that’s what!

(I.e., “blood sausage” — that's the vernacula). (2010)

When one person’s word is the law,

That's dictatorship. Do not ignore

Or contest the decrees

Addressed to you, please:

Just say “Yes, dear,” and not a word more. (2009)

As to diets, I see this dichotomy:

There are those that would not leave a lot o' me,

While those I indulge in

Result in gross bulgin':

A figure all paunchy and bottomy. (2009)

I parked by the side of the road

Outside her (and her husband's) abode;

We'd just time for a quickie,

But then it got tricky

When I found that my car had been towed. (2010)

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There was an Old Man of Jamaica,

Who suddenly married a Quaker;

For that's how it ends

If you start off just Friends:

She may press you one evening to take her. (2011)

It’s a subject I’m not keen to touch on:

A blot on the family escutcheon.

The king granted arms

To Great-Grandma, whose charms

He enjoyed when I fear she'd not much on. (2012)

A double dactyl:

Miracle-pyrical,

Jesus of Nazareth

Feeding five thousand: two

Fish and some bread.

Such a proceeding is

Uneconomical,

Bakers and fishermen

Hastily said. (2014)

I recall, as we sit by the fireside,

How exciting the life I've led by 'er side:

When my football side scored

She'd make love, to reward

Not just me, but each man — the entire side. (2014)

To the joys of the flesh let’s surrender!

To my eager caresses please tender

Your breasts — or your pecs!

(I'm addicted to sex,

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But I'm simply indifferent to gender. (2016)

This limerick showed that the form can work for serious subjects as well:

Jewish David stood up, self-reliant,

With his slingshot to topple the giant.

Now Goliath's Israeli,

And against him stands daily

Palestinian David, defiant. (2008)

And Hugh’s final Style Invitational poem, from May 2018:

In view of all Trump’s said and done,

A State of Despair has begun.

Fifty States, I recall,

And that once was all;

But now I have found fifty-one.

As impressive as Hugh’s Invite oeuvre is, it’s peanut-sized compared with the hundreds of limericks he wrote for the OEDILF project, the ongoing unabridged dictionary in limerick form: more than 500 under the pseudonym Timon, plus 200-some more at Hugh T. Super-Loser Jesse Frankovich “workshopped” with Hugh to polish the OEDILF limericks, and remembers him as “friendly, funny, and appreciative of suggestions, and he gave a lot of constructive comments to others as well. Hard to get an exact count but it appears that he workshopped over 2,000 limericks by other authors.”

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I knew Hugh personally through just a few emails in which he’d ask for clarification about a contest, or occasionally to ask for an explanation of a local-to-Washington joke. Needless to say, he was always amusing and thoroughly charming. I — and The Style Invitational — will miss his wit terribly.

Air quotes coming and going
Sometimes when a Loser is working on a set of contest entries, inspiration strikes for the creation of a related contest. That’s what happened with 400-something-time Loser Roy Ashley, who expanded our recurring “air quotes” contest (whose results run today) into one in which the word being air-quoted must be written into a sentence — and span more than one word. Roy sold me on the idea by enclosing several clever and varied examples that explain this week’s contest, Week 1359, better than a description does. I’m eager to see what you come up with.

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And the Plain Old Regular Air Quotes Contest — trotted out yet one more time — seems to be a bottomless font, especially since so many Losers alluded to he latest headlines in their entries. But it was Hildy Zampella’s ingenious definition for h"USB"and — “Consider yourself lucky if you get it right on the first try” — that won her a 10th Invite win, for 135 blots of ink since she started in Week 1140. Duncan Stevens continues to charge toward the 500-ink Hall of Fame mark (he’s neck and neck with Frank Osen for first dibs) with his use of Reagan National Airport’s abbreviation in bir"DCA"ge. Warren Tanabe scores a personal-best four blots in a week, including his runner-up, “Invent”ory cataloguing the president’s strengths, to hop his career blot total to 130 (and he still hasn’t shown up to a Loser event!). And yeah, Chris Doyle wrote some clever stuff too.

What Doug Doug: Ace Copy Editor Doug Norwood agreed with me again about the bestestness of the winners and runners-up, and also singled out Rivka Liss-Levinson’s co"nun"drum (“How do you solve a problem like Maria?”), e“con”omics (a dig at Elizabeth Warren’s promises by Ellen Raphaeli), Encou“rage”ment (Jeff Contompasis on MAGA rallies) and Satis“fact”ion (David Kleinbard of the joys of proving your spouse wrong via Google).

Next week: A Wednesday Invitational, an AWOL Convo
Because of Thanksgiving, I have to finish next week’s Invite a day early and post it next Wednesday, Nov. 27. Which means there’s just not going to be time for me to do a Convo as well. Look for the Invitational about noon next Wednesday; I’ll send out the email newsletter as usual.

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Next Loser Brunch: It’s on Sunday, Dec. 8, at noon at Asian Palace, a pan-Asian restaurant in Columbia, Md. I’m singing in a choral concert that afternoon and can’t make it, but I hope there’s a good turnout, especially from the North of the Beltway contingent. I certainly hope that Ur-Loser Elden Carnahan is over his nasty bronchitis by then; RSVP to him on the Losers’ website NRARS.org and click on “Our Social Engorgements.”