For many years now, there has been circulating a continuously expanding poem. Its leaping-off place is the first verse of “That’s Amore,” the song by Harry Warren and Jack Brooks made famous by crooner Dean Martin:

When the moon hits your eye
Like a big pizza pie,
That’s amore.

Something about the rhythm of the lines and the sounds of that last line has inspired my pun pals to soar hilariously from the launch pad of the original. Sing along with the best of theirs take-offs:

When an eel bites your heel
And a twinge you do feel,
That’s a moray.

If a sea creature did
Make you scream, “Oh, you squid!”:
Calamary.

When our habits are strange
And our customs deranged,
That’s our mores.

When the heather and grass
Together they mass,
That’s a moor, eh?

When Othello’s poor wife
Gets carved up with a knife,
That’s a Moor, eh?

When a Japanese knight
Draws a sword for a fight,
That’s Samurai.

Ray Charles gained so much fame
That his fans screamed his name:
“Sing some more, Ray!”

If you want to have fun
By being top gun,
Join NRA.

A New Zealander man
With a permanent tan:
That’s a Maori

If your vitamins be
Mainly C, D, and E,
Take some more A

When a camera just might
Catch your halo of light,
That’s an aura.

When you might make a feast
For some alien beast,
That’s Sigourney.

When Canadians fight
With their guns in the night,
That’s a war, eh?

When you’re eating with cows
And the cuisine just wows,
That’s some more hay.

Once your girlfriend was hot.
Now she’s wife, and she’s not
Anymore, eh?

The Harry Potter saga
Makes readers go gaga.
That’s a story!

Watching Zorro run through
All the bad guys helps you
Learn some swordplay.

Avocado mashed up
And dished out from a cup:
Guacamole

An old Aussie bird
In prehistory occurred.
That’s a Moa, eh?

Martha. Stewart tops weeds
With gold sesame seeds,
That’s potpourri.

When the top-ranking Whig
Calls the P.M. a prig,
That’s a Tory.

When rangers in hoods
Lead treks through the woods,
That’s a foray.

When an area stocks
A great number of rocks,
That’s a quarry.

When you get in a fight
With a guy of great height,
You’ll be sore, eh?

When a sting ray is all
That they sell at a mall,
That’s a mall ray.

When a doc scans your head
On a magnetic bed,
That’s M-R-I.

Our serial pun
Its course it has run.
So no more play.

Please send your questions and comments about language to Richard Lederer.