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old hand
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old hand
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Snap!
My mum too. (Seamstress, that is. Stitched and taught sewing for years). Also (since she has polymathematical tendencies [grin]), a homeopathic doctor and a stock-market sub-broker, and a budding market-gardener.
But alas, I was never able to tell the right colour of thread for the particular fabric she was stitching. As a side-effect, however, I can do buttons and hemming quite efficiently!
cheer
the sunshine warrior
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old hand
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old hand
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Hey Bob
My understanding was that or and argent were metals, not colours. Along with the furs: ermine etc (I can't remember the others - vair?), they form the three pinciple categories of colour/texture on a shield.
Technically, according to tradition, one may not 'charge' (place on top of) a metal with another metal, or a fur with another fur. These rules were, however, often disregarded in the 19th century when everybody and his brother wanted a coat of arms.
These days, I believe, the Royal College of Heraldry (or whatever it's called) is a bit more circumspect about the sorts of arms it recognises or issues.
Speaking of 'proper', in heraldry, it refers to anything shown 'realistically' - including animals. So a heraldic lion (in positions from couchant to rampant!) is quite different from a lion 'proper'. And so on...
cheer
the sunshine warrior
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No, 'proper' refers strictly to colour. A unicorn rampant, a phoenix, a lion passant guardant can all be proper. In the case of mythical animals it's a bit dodgy of course, but everyone agrees that unicorns are whitish. Phoenixes are multicoloured with crimson or purple predominating -- a phoenix proper is used in the arms of the Painters' Company IIRC.
Only very rarely are natural-looking versions of animals used, and they're usually described as different beasts. The dolphin is a bizarre monster, as is the tiger or tyger. To specify a natural one you would say Bengal tiger or whatever: examples occur.
Metal on metal is occasionally seen in Continental heraldry, e.g. the arms of the Papacy, St Peter's keys or on a field argent.
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old hand
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old hand
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Correction gratefully accepted. So much for my memory, eh?  cheer the sunshine warrior
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Your memory is actually very good, Shanks. I did mention in my first post on heraldic colors the word "tincture", which is the technical overall term for what are commonly regarded as colors. As you note, the tinctures are: the 2 metals, argent and or; the colours, azure, gules, sable, vert, tenne and murrey; and the furs, ermine, vair, counter ermine, counter vair and two other very rare variants whose names escape me without looking them up.
Besides this, certain terms/names have tinctures built in. The heraldic beast called a wyvern is always vert. Then there are the variations of roundels. A roundel is a charge (thing superimposed on a shield) which looks like a ball, and they can be of any tincture, and they have different names depending on the tincture, so that the tincture is not stated. A "fountain" is a roundel which is white with zigzag blue lines (argent, barry-wavy azure). If I remember correctly, a pellet is sable. Then there are the gouttes, which are charges which look like a teardrop, and, like roundels, have different names depending on their tinctures; gouttes de larmes are argent; gouttes d'huile are vert.
Nicholas has correctly stated the meaning of "proper" and noted the difference between a heraldic animal and a real animal. The lions passant gardant or (yellow, walking on all fours towards the dexter side of the shield [the left side as we see it] but with the head turned to look directly at the viewer) which are part of the Royal coat of arms, have a conventional form, not really very much like a real lion. Interestingly, like other male animals, they are supposed to be depicted with the suggestion of a male member, and usually are so depicted.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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It was YEARS before I understood the joke my father would tell about circumcisions: The rabbi gets the fees but the moyel gets all the tips.
TEd
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Carpal Tunnel
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If I remember correctly, a pellet is sable.
I remember a roudel sable as being an ogress.
gouttes de larmes are argent; gouttes d'huile are vert.
And gouttes de sangre(?) are gules. I remember this one from the arms I designed once:
Gules a cock courant(?) or couped at the neck. A chief of the second gouttes de sangre. Motto: Cadit caelum.
I probably got that whole emblazoning all screwed up.
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
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though i understood the joke, i couldn't tell if 'moyel' was the doctor or the trash receptacle. Atomica was of no use, so to save time for anyone else who is unsure, google reveals that the moyel (or mohel) is a person of the Jewish faith (but not necessarily a Rabbi) who is ordained, medically trained and certified to do circumcision under the guidelines of the Jewish religion.
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Carpal Tunnel
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So the Rabbi's a cut above the Moyel?
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Roundel sable = ogress
Come to think of it, I believe you are correct. I've been jotting down these notes off the top of my head. It's been years since I looked into my trusty collection of books by Fox-Davies, whose books are, in my opinion, the best on the subject.
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