Do Not Ask About The Dactyls

“Was that trochaic heptameter?  It sounded like heptameter…”

“I think so, yes.”

“I don’t believe – what difference does it make what -?”

“When you’ve known the Admiral for as long as we have, Excellency, you can predict her state of, ah, irritation quite well from her speech habits.  When she starts speaking in iambic pentameter, for example, you can be pretty sure that someone’s going to die today.”

“And what would this trochaic heptameter be supposed to mean?”

“Everyone’s going to die today.”