Groovy : 167 chars ------------------ Inspired by [jmm's][1] [answer][2]. a="teen-hundreds were a time for" b="two-thousands are a time " s="The eigh$a rum.\nThe nine$a fun.\nThe ${b}to run\na civilized classroom." b.size().times{println s} [1]: https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/users/32118/jmm [2]: https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/a/40221/21004