Here's a weird one for you.
Described as "a name for the sort of 'nutter' who sits next to you on the bus and does something weird." (www.geezer.demon.co.uk) by some, this word seems to have its roots in the French phrase for 'window shopping', or just looking at things in shop windows that you can't afford:"lécher les
vitrines". This translates literally into English as "to lick the windows."
Wow. And it sure is evocative, too.
This translates literally into English as "to lick the windows."
We used to babysit a little boy who literally licked the windows of our car. *shudder*
Reminds me of that old schoolyard epithet: paste-eater.
Reminds me of a joke I got by e-mail recently about a school where girls were kissing the mirrors after applying lipstick. The principal solved the problem by having the janitor show a group of the girls how much effort it required for him to remove the lipstick smudges from the mirrors. He demonstrated by dipping a plunger into a toilet and scrubbing the mirror with it.
There were no further lipstick smears seen on the mirrors.
Reminds me of being very young and comparing in my very young scientific mind the taste of small crayons to the large ones I found awkward to hold in my little hands. The small crayons tasted much better than the large ones, which were somewhat bitter.
Best regards,
WordWindowlicker
This reminded me of the unfortunate discovery that kindergarten - 2nd (or so) graders were found to have a high rate/incidence of high lead count/poisoning as the Chi-town public schools were painted with the stuff in the 40/50's, and kids were chewing on the sill as they looked out the window.
until the late 80's the yellow paint on yellow pencils was Yellow lead and chromium! didya ever chew on a pencil? welcome to heavy metal poisoning 101!
Heavens, yes, I chewed on pencils! I chewed on a lot of things, come to think of it. I guess the lead content in my body is pretty high. I think there's a fairly involved blood procedure in which all of the blood is taken out of you body and thoroughly washed. Wonder whether I could tell my doctor about all the things I've chewed so that he could recommend washing this blood?
it would be alot easier to chelate your body..
this gets into chemisty (not one of my strong points) but certain chemicals, say carbon monoxide, actually do a better job of linking to the Oxygen receptors in you blood than oxygen. so your body will actually soak up CO, rather than oxygen.
some heavy metal do the same thing, and displace calcium, or magnesium or other elements your body needs.
chelating is a process that helps your body get rid of the bad metals, (ie lead, mercury, chromium, etc,) by offering form of good elements that replace them.. ) they can be pretty un-paletable, (unless, you like me, like me, the chalky taste of tums) but not really gross.
i am sure one of the good doctors, or scientist can give more precise or detailed info. Lead is an issue, in cities, (in the past from both paint and gas fumes), and several friends have had lead poisoning.
Dear of troy: You got the general idea about chelation. But it acts by sequestering the metal where it is no longer biologically active. The chelate compound may break down very slowly. I think the general idea is similar to way iron is in center of hemoglobin molecule. Haven't read about it for fifty years. I'll see if I can find a good URL about it.
It was late and I goofed.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/Organizations/DDIL/chelation.htmHere is a very good URL. Very hard reading though. I'll give a handpainted medal to anybody who can read it and comprehend it. Other younger physicians excepted.
Here is a very good URL[sic]. Very hard reading though. I'll give a handpainted medal to anybody who can read it and comprehend it
And well deserved the medal will be.
And well deserved the medal will be.
Why, Faldage, I understood every single word perfectly! In fact, it may have been a first for me! Do I get the medal?
Best regards,
WordsWordsEverywhere..and not a jot to read!
I understood every single word perfectly!
Mebbe I need new glasses. I saw not only no words but also no URL to lead me to those no words.
Faldage,
You'd need very special glasses to read those nonentitied words I read on wwh's URL. But what was there, I read perfectly.
WW
but, getting back to your concern about lead, dubya, dubya, i don't think you have much to worry about.. your mind still seems very sharp, and the other most common symptom is irritability-- a trait i have not noticed in you.
when questioned about irratability, my friend with lead poisoning answered Yes!-- when asked the symptom onset, he replied Age two.( his lead poisoning was directly related to refinishing all the woodwork in his old house, and total adult onset!)
Dear of troy: I confess to knowing rather little about lead poisoning. I do think it very unlikely that lead intake at age two that caused no recognized symptoms at that age could cause symptoms in an adult. There are some ways in which essentially asymptomatic lead deposits in an adult can be mobilized and cause symptoms, but I cannot recall the details. I'll see if I can find anything on Internet.
Dear of troy: All I could find was this one brief mention of lead poisoning symptoms occuring in adult because of loss of bone associated with age. A male who may have lead locked up in his bone, but through poor diet (low calcium and phosphate intake) and for lack of exercise loses bone mass, could mobilize enough lead to cause symptoms.
"There is also speculation that adult neurotoxic effects may occur
when lead is released from the bone as part of the aging process. "
Im sorry, dr bill, obviously, i wasn't clear, but his lead poisoning was adult onset to to adult exposure; refinishing woodwork on an old house. the old paint on woodwork contained lead.
but he had been iratable since the age of 2-- no relationship to his lead poisoning!
Then I must say there's no fool like an old fool.But the stuff is so sneaky. We have mentioned pewter mugs,lead glazed ceramics. My family had a very old English coin, bigger than the old siver dollar that was used as pacifier for babies for so many years that a larg part of it was markedly thinned. It was so heavy I don't think it was all silver.
Mercury is another hazard. I read a horrible case not long ago, of highly qualified lady chemist wearing gloves, spilled a mercury compound, that went through her intact gloves so fast, that in spite of immediate trip to emergency ward, she died.
About 15 years ago, I bought my husband a hand held maze game. It has a glob of mercury in it that you have to coax to the center of the maze. I have recently seen the exact same game with a small steel ball in place of the mercury. Even though we love playing with the original, I think I will purchase the new one sometime before my infant granddaughter starts crawling. Anyone know where to find a safe place to dispose of the game with mercury in it? Certainly don't want to drop it in the trash!
FWIW, there is evidence linking lead exposure at an early age with significant neurobehavioural impairment ie reduced IQ, irritibility, tiredness, inability to concentrate, etc, which is not fully manifest until early adult life.
And to add to the paranoia consider this: Try a lead-testing kit on some of your mugs you assumed to have lead-free paint. You may find some surprising and disturbing results. Although our imports of dining ware are supposed not to contain lead, this is not always true. Dare I mention Oprah tested an entire set of her favorite imported dining ware she purchased from a US store and found it to contain lead.
Is Pb the chemical symbol for lead? That seems to ring a bell. If so, ain't it interesting that Pb looks like an abbreviation for "Problem"?
Helen, you're right. I am very slow to anger--generally about as laid-back as they come. So the yellow paint in those many-times-chewed #2 pencils hasn't leeched its lead into my system yet.......
Lead regards,
Waitingwind
Dear Plumbum is a Problem. Plumbum is Pb.
Re: Plumbum is Pb. is lead
giving rise to plumber, (the original aquaducts had lead linings) and plumb bob or for some thing to be plumb(alinged perfectly straight.. )done by dropping a plumb weight attached to a string, to get a perfectly straight and true vertical line.
lead ore is galena-- i don't know why it has this name. and is actually a pretty rock. silver is often found in the same ore, so galena is dull metalic grey, with bits of sparkley silver threads.
Well, smack my face and call me Sally! Bill and Helen! This is pretty exciting stuff you've opened up! I searched plumbum and galena and found some pretty easy reading, some of which I'll paste here:
What's in a name? From the Anglo-Saxon word lead. Lead's chemical symbol comes from the Latin word for lead, plumbum.
Say what? Lead is pronounced as LED.
History and Uses:
Lead has been known since ancient times. It is sometimes found free in nature, but is usually obtained from the ores galena (PbS), anglesite (PbSO4), cerussite (PbCO3) and minum (Pb3O4). Although lead makes up only about 0.0013% of the earth's crust, it is not considered to be a rare element since it is easily mined and refined. Most lead is obtained by roasting galena in hot air, although nearly one third of the lead used in the United States is obtained through recycling efforts.
Lead is a soft, malleable and corrosion resistant material. The ancient Romans used lead to make water pipes, some of which are still in use today. Unfortunately for the ancient Romans, lead is a cumulative poison and the decline of the Roman empire has been blamed, in part, on lead in the water supply. Lead is used to line tanks that store corrosive liquids, such as sulfuric acid (H2SO4). Lead's high density makes it useful as a shield against X-ray and gamma-ray radiation and is used in X-ray machines and nuclear reactors
Very interesting reading about the connection between plumbers and lead-lined pipes, Helen! Will never look at the word plumber the same way again.
There was also this on the same site:
Several lead alloys are widely used. Solder, an alloy that is nearly half lead and half tin, is a material with a relatively low melting point that is used to join electrical components, pipes and other metallic items. Type metal, an alloy of lead, tin and antimony, is a material used to make the type used in printing presses and plates. Babbit metal, another lead alloy, is used to reduce friction in bearings......
Lead nitrate (Pb(NO3)2) is used to make fireworks and other pyrotechnics. http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele082.htmlPlumbum tuckered out,
Wordwinded
PS: Please let me know whether the url I listed created any kind of problem for the wide pages I've been reading about. Don't want to cause a problem and will do whatever I need to do to make the correction
One more related word: plummet - to go down like a lead balloon
Our plumber's name is Carpenter. I once suggested to him that he partner with a carpenter named Plumber.
Last month, he brought his daughter to help him with a project. Her name is Taylor.
Yes, plumber Taylor Carpenter.
I am hoping that she marries someone named Miller and hyphenates her surname.
John LeCarre - Tinker,Tailor, Soldier Spy
Dear dodyskin: a couple of the words you used interest me. When I was a boy,
"normal school" was the name for what was later called a "Teachers' College"
that is now a State University in Bridgewater, Massachusetts.
Please tell us what your "normal school" was.
Forgive me for being nosy, but I can't help being curious as to what you
meant by your "hospital school".
pretty obvious innit? the hospital school was the school at the hospital and the normal school was the ordinary one across the road. hope thats clearer wwh
I have seen many hospitals, and worked in quite a few. but never before heard of
a hospital school. There are teaching hospitals for doctors, and hospitals that have
nursing schools, but I never knew of one that had a separate building for a school.
One more Brit custom new to me.