Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 1 of 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
B
Bingley Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
B
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
I thought other linguaphiles might appreciate this excerpt from Robertson Davies's "The Rebel Angels":

I walked on toward Ploughwright, thinking about faeces. What a lot we had found out about the prehistoric past from the study of fossilised dung of long-vanished animals. A miraculous thing, really; a recovery of the past from what was carelessly rejected. And in the Middle Ages, how concerned people who lived close to the world of nature were with the faeces of animals. And what a variety of names they had for them: the Crotels of a Hare, the Friants of a Boar, the Spraints of an Otter, the Werderobe of a Badger, the Waggying of a Fox, the Fumets of a Deer. Surely there might be some words for the material so near to the heart of Ozy Froats better than shit? What about the Problems of a President, the Backward Passes of a Footballer, the Deferrals of a Dean, the Odd Volumes of a Librarian, the Footnotes of a Ph.D., the Low Grades of a Freshman, the Anxieties of an Untenured Professor? As for myself, might it not be appropriately called the Collect for the Day?


Can we extend the list to other animals or occupations?


Bingley


Bingley
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
here are some more real ones afore we get down in the trenches:
ornithocopros - bird excrement (guano)
frass - debris or excrement produced by insects
bodewash - buffalo chips (or cow chips)
coprolite - fossilized excrement




Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
This is a game I prefer to stay out of, but wwh has a wonderful story that would fit right in. Dr. Bill, if you didn't save it, I'll send it back so you can post it--no changes needed, as far as I'm concerned.


Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
How about the Off-fall of an Ox? That's why I would never consider eating offal.


Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
A
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
A
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
I shall refrain from any further scatalogical entries as Jackie still has me staying after school and writing on the blackboard "I will not be a pottymouth, I will not be a pottymouth..."

But I do want to ask: what is the "sounds like a bell" reference about?


Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
it's ejecta [ecch] from the riddle thread, undoubtedly.

dung!

-ron obvious


Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Perhaps "sounds like a bell" should be "rings like a bell" which could be rhyming slang for "stinks like hell".


Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609
R
addict
Offline
addict
R
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609
the droppings of an English cricketer, obviously.
the fall out of a nuclear scientist
the .. no I'll stop right there
Rod


Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
As The Professor and the Madman pointed out-- dog= "pure"

In past years, before a "poop and scoop" law-- we always used to look out for glass on the street -- once a friend replied-- I don't see any glass-- but why didn't you warn me about the dog s***? D'oh!


Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Sheep -- Dag (daggy?) from the song--

here we are in NSW, shearing sheep as big as whales,
with leather necks and daggy tails...


Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
dag... maybe. let's wait for help from <ahem> down under

Dag, a lock of wool that hangs at the tail of a sheep and draggles in the dirt. Dag-wool, refuse wool; cut off in trimming the sheep.



Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
An elephant meets a rabbit for the first time– he admires the rabbits beautiful white fur, and asks, enviously, "Do you have a problem with s*** sticking to your fine hair?

The rabbit says, "My fine hair is fur, and no, I do not!"

At which point, the elephant picks up the rabbit, and uses it to wipe himself and comments, "I do!"


I have heard-- but forget-- but there is a special word for rabbits.. (pellets?)


Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
" here we are in NSW, shearing sheep as big as whales,
with leather necks and daggy tails.."

I have seen a lot of sheep, but never one with a tail. All the ones I ever saw had an elastic put around tail at base to shut off circulation and make tail drop off when they were lambs. Can it be the Kiwis can't afford elastics?
(Joke - no offence intended. Maybe they have so many they think it is too much work.)


Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
::sigh::

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_287b.html

[if you're so inclined, there's a Poop Thesaurus hanging out there...]


Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Alex, you can go home now---but work on that penmanship,
will you?


Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Dags are typically a combination of faeces and wool which adorn the rear ends of sheep which are in bad need of crutching (this is cutting the wool off around their backsides).

Occasionally a sheep will be missed during a muster and will not be shorn for a year. By the next summer, they have long streamers of daggy wool hanging around their rear ends. These dry out in the sun, and start knocking against each other when the sheep move, making a kind of clacking sound. This gets more audible as the sheep moves faster. From this phenomenon comes the term "rattle your dags", meaning, "get a move on" or "move faster".



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858


And virgin wool comes from the sheep that run the fastest.


#34049 06/30/01 12:00 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
Offline
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
As many of you know (especially you bio scholars Hi Jackie!), my non-Board name is Dagny. Over the years, many have opted to shorten it to "Dag".

Suddenly I find myself not so fond of that anymore, if you can imagine...

[Ignorance was bliss e]


Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
And virgin wool comes from the sheep that run the fastest.
Ohmigawd! And if the ewes are running too fast, could you say the others are rampaging??



#34051 06/30/01 03:52 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
W
wow Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
virgin wool

When synthetic fibers first hit the market (about 1948) I distinctly recall a tag that bragged the garment was made of "Virgin Nylon"

#34052 06/30/01 04:04 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
"Virgin Nylon"

She was the oldest of the Vestal Virgins of Rome.


#34053 06/30/01 04:17 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
"Virgin Nylon"

No, no, no, see, that's where it was made. Except I thought that name was always in plural...


#34054 07/01/01 02:31 AM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Which reminds me of the old poem, "Caviar from the Virgin Sturgeon"



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
B
Bingley Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
B
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Alex asks
what is the "sounds like a bell" reference about?


I actually got it from Monty Python. The answer is, as tsuwm points out, dung .

Bingley


Bingley
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
OK. I've resisted long enough. Here's one version of the ubiquitous bear joke:

In light of the rising frequency of bear-human encounters, the National Park Service is advising hikers to take extra precautions. The Service suggests that hikers remain on the trails and wear little bells on their clothing, so as not to startle bears that are not expecting them. The service also suggests that outdoorsmen carry pepper spray with them in case of an encounter with a bear.

It is also a good idea to watch for fresh signs of bear activity. Outdoorsmen should recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear dung. Black bear dung is smaller and contains lots of berries and sometimes squirrel fur. Grizzly bear dung is larger, has little bells in it and smells like pepper.




#34057 07/03/01 11:26 AM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
B
old hand
Offline
old hand
B
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
my non-Board name is Dagny

Uh, yeah, I'm sure my husband (whose name happens to be Dag, which has a perfectly nice meaning in Norwegian!) will also be thrilled to hear the latest on his (oft-abused) name...


Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609
R
addict
Offline
addict
R
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 609
why didn't you warn me about the dog s***?

The word "shit" has been used as an expletive for many years, and through over use has lessened in its intensity and shock value. It is also used quite widely as a term for general mess, and in several other phrases. However, its use as a term for excrement seems to have a higher intensity and is eschewed (No - I already saw that joke, thank you) - in polite company. Hence I have heard a polite lady state "Oh shit! I just stepped in some doggy doo-doo".
Is there a name for this process? Can you think of some other examples? I'm not trying to trawl the gutter, just trying to explore this phenomenon.

Rod


Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
But the group would have be surprised if she said: "Oh, doo-doo! I've stepped in some dog shit!" Maybe she followed a fundamental lesson in style, that repetition of one word in the same sentence is bad form And she was not one of those imperturbable types who wouldn't say if if they had a mouth full.


Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
As an avid morel shrooner, I am always amused when I encounter what my sisters and I refer to as the "Deer John". It is a semi-hollowed tree full of deer droppings that looks like they just back up and let it drop. I often imagine a group of deer standing in line to use the facility and gossiping and crossing their legs.

consuelo

Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Dear consuelo: Trees such as you describe cannot be common, which might explain why I have never seen or heard of deer doing that. I wonder why they do that, what advantage there is to it, unless it prevents the biting flies from attacking sensitive areas.


Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
B
Bingley Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
B
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Consuelo is an avid morel shrooner. Should I be or or ?

Bingley


Bingley
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Dear Bingley: Forget morels and truffles until you acquire a trained French truffle hound.


Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
...what my sisters and I refer to as the "Deer John".

Give a whole new meaning to a Deer John letter.

And, if the deer has (looks like umlaut) a whole new meaning to the advertising slogan of the people that make the tractor: Nothing Runs Like a Deer(e).


Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
And coming back to the beginings-- i was reminded yesterday-- (a US holiday) the worms have "castings"

This is such a wonderful thread-- until it started i hadn't realize i knew so many names for different types of excretement! -- and now i know even more! (i knew frass, guano, castings, pure, scat, (did we use scat yet? ) Bears make scat.


Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
And nice old ladies who don't know what the word means tell stray dogs or cats to "scat."Actually, a common country practice was to catch strays and smear them with excerement to punish owners who let them stray.


#34067 07/05/01 02:50 PM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
a common country practice was to catch strays and smear them with excrement*

AHD lists both (in separate entries) as Origin Unknown. This time I *will look it up in my OED!
And while you're at it Dr. Bill, you might consider expunging the word dirt from your vocabulary. Not to mention moist.


*According to ledasdottir, this would only work with bear excrement. (http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=miscellany&Number=32928)

#34068 07/05/01 03:05 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
well-- i am not sure it only goes with bears-- I have only heard it (i think?) with bears..

and until this thread started, i never even realize i knew these words.. and so far we hav avoided humans-- i taught my kids BM (bowel movement)


#34069 07/05/01 04:48 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
" Dr. Bill, you might consider expunging the word dirt from your vocabulary. Not to mention
moist."

Dear Faldage: No bowdlerizer I. I meant that nice old ladies that used to use it would have been upset if someone told them what "scat" meant. Like my wife's grandmother who primly corrected me for saying the word "bull". She informed me that that was "a gentleman cow."


#34070 07/05/01 06:40 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
W
wow Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Then there is the children's book "Everyone Poops" ....


#34071 07/05/01 07:24 PM
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
B
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
B
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
In the same vein, somewhat...

how did a toilet come to be known as a crapola? I understand the 'crap' part but the 'ola' is a mystery to me.


#34072 07/05/01 09:26 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
"how did a toilet come to be known as a crapola? I understand the 'crap' part but the 'ola' is a mystery to me."

Victrola, Motorola,payola,Crayola all coinages using a meaningless suffix for completion.


Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Shrooner: a person that spends inordinate amounts of time in the woods each year trying to find the elusive morel mushroom. Also has more luck finding spoor, wildflowers, wild leeks and reaffirmation of ties to wood nymphs.

consuelo

Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275
W
enthusiast
Offline
enthusiast
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275
Just to get a moment's respite from excrements....

ConsueloI have not tasted morel mushrooms. I dream of tasting it someday. I am interested to know what beautiful words you will use to describe its taste and if you can contrast it with Portobellos and the ubiquitous white mushrooms from Pennsylvania caves.

(I hope I don't get stoned with the hardest dung there is, for going off-thread)

chronist

Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
The first thing for anyone planning to eat any kind of mushrooms found in the wild to do is get a good book to learn to identify them, and eat only ones they can be sure they have properly identified. Even experts have been poisoned by errors in identification of mushrooms. The puffballs etc. are so far as I know easier to identify. I prefer to buy mine. It is safer.


#34076 07/06/01 01:21 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Shrooner: a person that spends inordinate amounts of time in the woods each year trying to find the elusive morel mushroom. Also has more luck finding spoor, wildflowers, wild leeks and reaffirmation of ties to wood nymphs.

[irony]And yet, I had a big batch of morels spring up in my front flower bed. And I hate mushrooms.[/irony]


Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
nice old ladies who don't know what the word means tell stray dogs or cats to "scat."

OED suggests ss + cat suggesting a sibilant hiss (are there any other kinds?) followed by a shouted "cat".


Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
OED suffers from fecal impaction.


#34079 07/06/01 02:22 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275
W
enthusiast
Offline
enthusiast
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 275
[irony]And yet, I had a big batch of morels spring up in my front flower bed. And I hate mushrooms.[/irony]

Sparteye, where do you live? The way they talk about morels, it might be worth a plane ticket to where you live to get those morels!



chronist

#34080 07/06/01 02:35 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Just a county away from consuelo, wordcrazy. In the wilds of mid-Michigan. [still-looking-for-the-missing-UP-on-CK's-map emoticon]


#34081 07/06/01 02:49 PM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
[still-looking-for-the-missing-UP-on-CK's-map emoticon]

I was wondering about that myself and thought perhaps it had seceded as part of the ND name change flaff that degenerated into the joining of North Dakota and South Dakota after ND's rejection of my Baja Manitoba proposal and the division of Michigan and Upper Michigan to keep the number of stars on the flag the same. [scratching-my-head-because-even-*I-don't-understand-what-I-just-said emoticon]


#34082 07/06/01 03:02 PM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
R
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
R
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
I have only just discovered this thread - the posting that I have made in "Holy Buckets may have been more apposite here!

But the "crap" part of "crappola" is generally thought to derive from a Mr Henry Crapper, who did not invent the water closet, but did produce the first reasonably practical one that was capable of being produced in quantity and fitted into existing houses without undue problems.
(Actually, that's not entirely true - the early W/Cs had all sorts of sanitary problems until a certain amount of expertise in fitting them and connecting them to the sewerage had been acquired - but that's another story - - -)


#34083 07/06/01 04:19 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
B
old hand
Offline
old hand
B
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
Last year a friend, who regularly wanders around in the bush, gave us a bunch of morels because they picked so many they didn't know what to do with them. They figured they'd picked about $600 worth of mushrooms, but since they do it all the time, it was no big deal to them...they just didn't want to waste them!

Apparently in Newfoundland, wild mushrooms of all sorts are plentiful. I haven't gotten around to finding someone to take me out mushroom-hunting. Blueberries grow like a carpet on all the hills here...yum yum!


Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
I
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
I
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
<<and reaffirmation of ties to wood nymphs>>

Are you sure it's *morels you're gathering?


Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
How 'bout the "presidentials" of a Bush?


Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
B
Bingley Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
B
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
A new word (well, new to me anyway)I came across yesterday was homocoprophagous, used of a species whose members eat each other's droppings. Does heterocoprophagous exist for animals which eat another species' droppings?

Bingley


Bingley
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
I don't know about hetero-, but auto-coprophagous warrants an entry in OED2.

http://members.aol.com/tsuwm/

#34088 08/03/01 04:56 AM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
M
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
M
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
or Birds nest soup-- made from the gelatious fish flavored lining of a sea tern nest the bird digests, and then regurgated fish, and lines its nest with the geliten for the fledglings..

the nests are harvested, and the lining made into a soup.. pretty gross when you think about it.. but it taste good.

but a lot of food is that way-- discusting to think about, glorious to eat -- Figs have that aspect too-- any botonist here to explain how figs flowers get fertilized and mature into figs? Yummy!


Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Why add "coprophagous" when "scatophagous" already exists?

P.S. "h" crucified again. Thanks, Faldage.

Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
cophrophagous

AHA! That's where that h went. You put that back in dipthong this minute, Dr. Bill! Shame on you for stealing it!


Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
M
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
M
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Phaldage, don't be mean to Pooh - no one'll notice the dipherence


Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
R
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
R
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Can the previous few posts be applied to "h" droppings as well?


Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
W
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
H's droppings at least do not ring like a bell. More like sound of frog returning to its liquid environment.


Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
I was talking to my father this weekend about the "Deer John". He says it isn't deer that do it, dear, it's porcupine! Oh, well, it was a good story while it lasted.


Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
I'm glad I resurrected this post. What with my daughter's wedding and my computer going belly up, I hadn't had a chance to get back till now. How do morels taste, I'm asked. They taste like Pan romped through the forest with the nymphs and wrapped them all up in autumn leaves. I wish I had some now. They are a wild thing, not to be compared to portobello or white ones from the grocer.


Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
I have in my possession a copy of a letter to the editor of the Rocky Mountain News that I wrote some time back. There had been a near-disastrous forest fire near Mesa Verde, in SW Colorado, and there was some concern that the fire had destroyed a certain pre-historic site. After the ashes cooled investigators found that what was burning at the site was a very large pile of rodent droppings. I asked in my letter if it was too late to protect the site under the Endangered Feces Act.

TEd

After that I'll just scat on out of here.



TEd
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
>Also has more luck finding spoor, wildflowers, wild leeks

Which is what the deer are doing at that tree!



TEd
#34099 08/28/01 04:16 PM
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
>Apparently in Newfoundland, wild mushrooms of all sorts are plentiful.

Sheesh, in my youth, we used to seek wild morels ALL the time. Oh, wait, never mind....



TEd
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
the Endangered Feces Act.
After that I'll just scat on out of here.

G-R-O-A-N!!!!! Ted, c'mere a minute, I've got something for you...






Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
They taste like Pan romped through the forest with the nymphs and wrapped them all up in autumn leaves.

A fellow mushroom-lover salutes you for that wonderful imagery, consuelo!


Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Thank you, Whit. May I call you Whit? I can't take all the credit. I've been infected by poetry AND Tom Robbins.


Page 1 of 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,328
Members9,182
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
Ineffable, ddrinnan, TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV
9,182 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 939 guests, and 0 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
tsuwm 10,542
wofahulicodoc 10,539
LukeJavan8 9,916
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5