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#132410 08/30/04 01:20 PM
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I came across a strange word in the children's book I am currently
> reading. I am on the fourth of a series of six books, starting with
> "The Magician's Nephew", written by C.S Lewis and telling the story of
> four children in Narnia. I am currently reading "Prince Caspian" and
> in the book I came across the word "bivouacked". I can't remember in
> what context the word was used, or if Mr Lewis made it up using poetic
> licence! Can you help?



#132411 08/30/04 01:25 PM
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bivˇouˇac ( P ) Pronunciation Key (bv-k, bvwk)
n.
A temporary encampment often in an unsheltered area.

intr.v. bivˇouˇacked, bivˇouˇackˇing, bivˇouˇacs, also bivˇouˇacks
To camp in a bivouac.

re: Did "Mr Lewis made it up using poetic licence!"

In his day, you didn't even need a camping licence to bivouac.



#132412 08/30/04 07:09 PM
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I do like Puddleglum. Or is he in "The Silver Chair"?


#132413 08/30/04 08:43 PM
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Or is he in "The Silver Chair"?

Yes, he's in The Silver Chair. Isn't Puddleglum great? I have a neighbor whom I (secretly, of course) call the Marsh-wiggle because he's tall, skinny and wears a conical straw hat.




#132414 08/30/04 10:15 PM
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Quick! Check and see if his toes are webbed!


#132415 08/31/04 01:35 AM
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Erika, I would think that CSL would have been the last man in the world to have any necessity to make up a word because of being at a loss for one. He was, after all, a professor of philology and one of the great master wordsmiths, to say nothing of his other accomplishments.


#132416 08/31/04 01:48 AM
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Making a bivouac (or bivvy) was part of the experience of "outdoor education" for many Kiwi kids. My younger sister once got a nasty scratch on her eye when a fern frond she was attempting to insert into the roof of her bvouac insetred itself in her eye instead.


#132417 08/31/04 11:06 AM
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He was, after all, a professor of philology and one of the great master wordsmiths

Indeed, he and Professor JRR Tolkien had a writing group that met at a pub in Oxford called the Eagle and the Child (or familiarly, the Bird and Baby).


#132418 08/31/04 11:17 AM
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a writing group

the Inklings.



formerly known as etaoin...
#132419 08/31/04 07:06 PM
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a writing group

the Inklings.


as opposed to: a singing group
the Ink Spots

-ron (If I didn't care) obvious



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