What does 'diope' mean in the poem 'Pediatric Reflection' by Ogden Nash?

Question

"Pediatric Reflection" by Ogden Nash

Many an infant that screams like a calliope
Could be soothed by a little attention to its diope.

What does "diope" mean here?

Answer 1

Ogden Nash was fond of the humorous effect created by employing a rhyme that only works if you distort the pronunciation of one of the words, an effect that he signalled by a deliberate mis-spelling. Here are three examples, with glosses for the mis-spelled words:

Better yet, if called by a panther,
Don't anther.†

_{Ogden Nash (1941). ‘The Panther’. In The Face is Familiar, p. 64. New York: Garden City.}

_{† answer}

A girl who is bespectacled,
She may not get her nectacled.†
But safety pins and bassinets
Await the girl who fascinets.‡

_{‘Lines Written to Console Those Ladies Distressed by the Lines “Men Seldom Make Passes, etc.”’ In Nash, p. 134.}

_{† neck tickled ‡ fascinates.}

A bit of talcum
Is always walcum.†

_{‘Reflection on Babies’. In Nash, p. 323.}

_{† welcome}

So in the couplet quoted in the question, “diope” is a mis-spelling of “diaper” that makes it rhyme with “calliope”.

A calliope is a steam-driven organ, named after the ancient Greek muse Calliope, and notorious for its volume: Wikipedia says, “some small calliopes are audible for miles”. The word should be pronounced /kəˈlaɪəpi/ with four syllables, not /ˈkæliˌoʊp/ with three, for Nash’s joke to work.

_{1874 poster: “Calliope, the wonderful operonicon or steam car of the muses”. Library of Congress, digital ID pga.01335.}